Scientific Institute of Acivius
Acivian Empire
A briefing room
"Your assignment." Kaia's commanding officer handed her a file. "Go on, read the debrief. I'll wait."
Kaia scanned the page. Destination: Earth – homeworld of the Terran race, it read. Area of Inquiry: Terran social and emotional customs. Goal: to investigate whether certain Terran superstitions regarding emotional attachment and mate choice are grounded in quantifiable scientific evidence. "Terran emotion," Kaia summarized. Outwardly she remained stoic; inwardly she glowed with pleasure at the thought that her C.O. had not only remembered but valued her keen interest in the psychology and sociology of alien races. "I understand I am to discover the truth or lack thereof behind Terran beliefs about love?"
"Correct," the officer replied. "Terrans have an interesting theory about such pairings. Many Terrans believe that each person has another person with whom they are essentially predestined to fall in love. They call them 'soulmates,' and this may seem like a far-fetched idea to you, but it seems rather worth investigating. Perhaps not a mission of world-changing importance, but a valuable one nonetheless, and one for which you in particular are extremely qualified."
"Thank you, sir," Kaia said, concealing her pride once again. "And how am I to go about finding this information?"
"Your procedures are simple. You will capture a pair of Terrans who exhibit clear physical, mental, and emotional bonds in such a way that would allow their relationship to be labeled as romantic." The officer didn't seem to flinch at the prospect of, essentially, abducting two unsuspecting people; Kaia wasn't about to admit that she had. "This will, of course, be done without harm to the subjects. They will be held for a period of two Earth weeks, each day of which you will use your Reality Augmentation tool to send them into a different life. By placing them in foreign environments, we can change the circumstances of their first meeting and how their relationship plays out after the fact. And, if they manage to find themselves in a romantic relationship in most, if not all, of our stimulations, there may be cause to believe that this concept has merit."
"I see, sir," Kaia replied. "Are the couple and stimulations to be of my choosing, or are they predesigned?"
"You are the expert here, Lieutenant Andronis, so the stimulations are to be chosen based on your expertise. You'll need to research Terran culture in order to choose fourteen different scenarios to place your subjects in. As for the couple, they have already been selected." The officer gestured towards a screen, which lit up at the motion to reveal a photograph of a couple locked in a rather…passionate embrace. Their faces appeared to be temporarily melded together and Kaia noted a distinctive streak of white in the female's hair.
"Are these my subjects?" she asked, despite knowing the answer.
"Yes, Lieutenant, they are," the officer replied. "I trust you are familiar with the human Mutants?"
"Very much so, sir," Kaia said. They'd been covered repeatedly in her studies of human sociology. "Are these two mutants, then?"
"Famous ones, in their world and a handful of others," the officer said. "They're part of a team of mutants dedicated to the Earth's defense. Perhaps you've heard of the X-Men? If you have, you'd know that these two will likely not be subdued easily. This one" – he zoomed in on the female – "is named Anna Marie LeBeau, popularly referred to as 'Rogue.' The male's name is Remy LeBeau, more commonly 'Gambit.' She can absorb the psyches of those who come into contact with her skin, and he can manipulate kinetic energy."
"And they are suitable candidates for this study…why?" Kaia asked. All she'd heard so far was that the pair would be a massive headache to capture and probably not too much fun to study, either.
"Ah, I forgot to mention. They are also married to each other."
"That makes much more sense. And you believe them to be soulmates?"
"Lieutenant, I will not believe anything of the sort unless your study of them seems to indicate that such a belief will be founded. Now, in the interest of time, I want your stimulations planned by tomorrow so that the programming team can design them. Dismissed."
"Of course, sir." Kaia nodded before turning to go.
Either this assignment would be a snap, or it'd snap her - there'd be no telling until it began.