Timmy had cleaned up the dishes from breakfast and drank another mug of coffee. While Tecna may have agreed to do things the "Earth way", Timmy still knew how headstrong and difficult she truly was. He was going to need all the caffeine he could get.

Once he had finished cleaning up the dishes from breakfast, he turned back to Tecna who was still glued to the same spot in the kitchen that he found her in when he came back from his room. He posture was still immaculate, and her face still remained unchanging as she looked at Timmy. He inhaled and let out his breath with a quick exhale through his nose as he thought about what to do next.

"You will need to get changed," Timmy stated as he gestured to Tecna's metallic purple jumpsuit.

Tecna's response came as a nod before she reached up and began to pull the material down from her shoulders. As her pale skin became exposed, Timmy quickly reached out and grabbed her hands.

"Woah there!" Timmy exclaimed, "Not in front of me. Go get changed in-" Timmy stopped himself, "Do you have another change of clothes that isn't a flight suit?"

Tecna shook her head, "Negative."

Timmy sighed, "Come with me," Timmy took his hands off of Tecna and motioned for her to follow him down the hall and to his bedroom, "I might have something that fits you."

The pair entered Timmy's room and he began rummaging through his drawers, digging to the bottom where some of his older clothes that did not fit him would be. Maybe she could wear those. Timmy pulled out a white button-up shirt and a pair of gray pants. Maybe a little long for her but it would have to do.

"Here," Timmy said as he handed Tecna the clothes, "I don't have the proper…undergarments, but for now, this will do."

Tecna took the clothes from Timmy and once again began to strip in front of him.

"At least wait until I am out of the room!"

Timmy stormed towards his bedroom door and left the room, quickly shutting the door behind him. With his back pressed against the door, he took a deep breath and began to count to ten. His mother always made him do this when he would become frustrated or overwhelmed. It had helped him in the past and he was hoping that it would help him now. Tecna may have agreed to do things his way, but she was still a strange woman in a strange land. Riven had always called him strange, but Timmy thought that Tecna had surpassed Timmy's level of strange.

Having calmed down, Timmy made his way into the living room where he would wait for Tecna. He would have to ask Helia to bring some clothes from Flora's or…how the Hell was he going to explain the fact that Tecna was going to stay with them? Fixing the shuttle was going to take more than a day, especially since he had no idea what they would need and had little to no idea how to fix an alien spacecraft. And he very well couldn't allow Tecna to be on her own. She was clueless when it came to life on Earth and the last thing that he needed to see on the news was that some alien woman was out murdering a bunch of innocent people.

He had to think of something, and he had to think of something quick.

"Timmy,"

But he would think about it later.

"I require your assistance."

Timmy turned around to make his way back to his bedroom where he saw Tecna walking towards him, his gray pants being held up on her body with one hand and his white button-up shirt completely open, exposing her sternum and stomach. Timmy was thanking whatever higher power that was above him that all of the more…private…parts of Tecna had been covered.

He took a deep breath and tried to remember that this was all new for her and he would just waste energy if he argued with her. So, Timmy silently made his way over to Tecna and grabbed the edges of the button-up shirt, and began to fasten the small white buttons.

"These go through the holes." Timmy said as he focused on the task at hand, "Do you not have buttons in Zenith?"

Usually, Timmy would have been lightheaded with such close proximity to a woman, but this was different. Tecna wasn't so much a woman as she was a nuisance. He would have been beside himself to see a woman in such a dress but they had to get out to the crash site to assess the damages so that she could leave Earth and get out of his hair.

"They seem to be too cumbersome and would not be the most efficient way to dress oneself."

Nope. Timmy was not going to fight with her.

"Are all of your clothes so labor-intensive?" Tecna asked.

"What about your clothes? I can imagine that getting into something so…skintight…would not be easy." Timmy buttoned the last button on the shirt. He left the last three buttons open, careful not to suffocate the woman in his shirt, but she reached up and fastened the last three buttons.

"We have a machine to change us," Tecna answered matter-of-factly. Timmy rolled his eyes, of course there was. It was a miracle then that she came out here dressed at all.

"You have a machine to dress you?" Timmy walked away from Tecna and made his way back to his room, Tecna following behind.

"Yes, far more efficient."

Is there anything that you do for yourself?" Timmy asked as he walked into his closet and grabbed a belt that was hanging from the closet door.

"We believe that our time would better be spent on innovation than silly things like dressing ourselves."

Timmy reemerged from his closet, the belt in hand, and made his way towards Tecna.

"Here." Timmy handed Tecna the belt. "I hope that you have belts on Zenith."

"We do."

"Good, this should help you keep the pants up."

Tecna took the belt and slowly began running it through the loops of the gray pants that she had been wearing. Timmy watched as her slender fingers worked the belt through the loops before pulling the belt tight around her slender waist. Tecna was quite petite, he had noticed that the minute that he saw her, but as she pulled the belt tight around her body, Timmy couldn't help but to see how much of a "woman" she really was. A million questions that he should have thought about flooded his mind, questions that he felt ashamed to ask her directly. When she was here, would she need feminine products or did the women on Zenith not do that? Was she really a woman at all. She appeared to look like an Earth woman but underneath his clothing, she could have parts that he would have never dreamed of.

"Um, are there-"

"I am ready now. We shall go to the shuttle."

Timmy snapped his mouth shut. The questions would be saved for later.

It was still there. The shuttle from the night before was still in the hole. While it no longer smoked, the wreckage was undeniable.

Timmy looked from the damaged shuttle in the large construction pit and turned to face Tecna, her face fixed in a pensive expression as she looked down at her crashed spacecraft.

"Well, at least I'll be able to play Doomsday Battalion V." Timmy shrugged. There was no way that they were going to be finishing the repairs by the end of the month. Timmy would at least get to see the release of the game and maybe even the new year.

"Come," Tecna said, oblivious to Timmy's joke, "we shall go see what the issue is."

Tecna made her way down the large dirt pit to the shuttle. Timmy scoffed as he carefully followed behind. See what the issue is? It was pretty obvious what the issue was, anyone could see what the issue was. Still, Tecna ventured further down the pit to the shuttle, skillfully maneuvering herself around clumps of dirt and debris.

Timmy watched as Tecna reached the bottom of the pit and began to climb inside of the smashed and crumpled up metal. "Careful" he called out to her but then remembered who he was talking to. She was some alien woman who belonged to some elite "Federation", if anyone knew what they were doing, it was Tecna. Still, Timmy couldn't help but worry as Tecna snaked her way into the wreckage, wondering how in the world she had managed to crawl into such tight spaces. Must be a weird alien thing, though Timmy did suppose that her petite size helped.

"The engine has been completely destroyed." Tecna reported from the inside of the shuttle, "And the mainframe is fried."

"So what does this mean for repairs?" Timmy asked.

"It means," Tecna stressed as she crawled back out of the smashed shuttle, "that my shuttle is completely destroyed."

"You don't sound too concerned." Timmy noted, then again, Tecna rarely showed any kind of emotion other than being a cold and frigid…he wouldn't complete that thought. His mother would smack him on the back of the head if he dared even think about what he was thinking about.

"Because I found this." Tecna pulled out from Timmy's gray pants a dented small silver box with a speaker and a few small knobs. There was a screen that was black and cracked.

"And that is?"

"A communicator, Earth man." Tecna answered.

"It's Timmy and you know that, and you talk about our technology being ancient? That looks like some sort of rudimentary signaling device."

Timmy raised an eyebrow as he further examined the silver box in Tecna's hand. It looked like a chromed old-fashioned radio. Nothing about it looked futuristic or innovative.

"This device," Tecna held up the communicator, "allows me to communicate with anyone across the Federation. No matter the planet or galaxy. Last I checked, Earth just figured out ways to communicate effectively across oceans."

She had him there. The machine looked simple, but if it could do all that, then Timmy just better shut his mouth.

"Too bad it is broken."

"Nonsense," Tecna replied, "with a few parts and some time, I will have this working in no time."

"And when you do?"

"I shall contact the base in Zenith to come and get me." Tecna placed the small silver box back in the pocket of the gray pants that she was wearing.

"Now," Tecna huffed as she began climbing out of the hole, Timmy begrudgingly following behind, "where does one get supplies to complete repairs."

"Depends." Timmy answered as he climbed up the side of the dirt pit.

"On?"

"What you need repaired. Usually, people would bring something like that to a phone repair shop where they have small tools, but I am assuming that a simple cell phone shop will not be enough for your oh so complex communicator."

"Take me to this repair shop and I will do my best to fix what I can with the tools that they have." Tecna instructed.

"Um, only the people that work there can use the tools. People usually just drop off their phone, grab a coffee, and come back to their phone as good as new."

"They shall make an exception for me as a member-"

"We aren't part of your stupid Federation, remember? Ya know on account of us being awful in your eyes?"

"You're not awful," Tecna replied and Timmy felt his heart lighten just a tad, "just selfish savages." And his heart sank back. Cold and frigid bitch. He would gladly accept his mother's punishment later but even his mother would have to agree.

"Now, take me there." Tecna commanded.

"We'll have to wait for the bus."

"Bus?" Tecna asked.

"Yeah, the bus. Nobody drives a car here in the city unless they want to pay for the sky-high parking and gas prices." Timmy reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened the black leather and pulled out a smooth one-dollar bill and handed it to Tecna. "Take it, you'll need it to get on the bus."

Tecna pinched the corner of the dollar bill between her thumb and index finger, much like someone who was holding something disgusting. Timmy rolled his eyes as Tecna held out the dollar bill in front of her.

"It's not going to bite you." Timmy sighed.

Tecna looked up at Timmy, "This is your currency?"

"And I suppose yours is better?"

"Of course."

Why was he not surprised?

"On Zenith, we don't even use tangible currency. It is all digital."

"Cryptocurrency?" Timmy asked.

"No," Tecna shook her head, "nothing we use could ever be that flawed."

"All transactions are electronic."

"We have that too, ya know? We call it credit. But let me guess, my poor Earth man brain couldn't comprehend what you are talking about?"

"I sense hostility in your tone." Tecna said as she turned to face in front of her, "I will not engage with such contempt."

Timmy wanted to rip out his hair. He would show her hostile. She wouldn't last one minute with Riven, he would show her what real hostility and aggression looked like. Timmy would pay a lot of money to see the two of them in a room together, he wouldn't bet that both of them would be leaving the room alive. Though he wasn't sure who he would bet on to be the person walking out.

He took another deep breath and began counting as he did earlier that morning. Nothing good would come from yelling at her. Why was he the one that had to deal with her? Helia or Nabu would have been better at this than him. There was a reason that Timmy chose to get lost in video games and his studies, that was because of people like her. Timmy was not a people person, and he now knew that he was not an alien person either. But whether he liked it or not, he was stuck with her.

Before he could speak, the bus rumbled up to the stop in front of the apartment building and hissed as it lowered itself to let Tecna and Timmy onto the bus.

"Good morning," the bus driver greeted as he opened the door. Tecna walked ahead of Timmy and past the bus driver, "Excuse me, miss. I need the payment."

Tecna held out the dollar in front of her and gave it to the bus driver.

"Thank you," he smiled as he placed it inside of the small clear box where there were other coins and bills inside.

Timmy showed the driver his bus pass as he entered the bus, giving the driver an apologetic smile.

"Do you know her?" the driver asked.

"Unfortunately?"

"Relative?"

"No."

"Friend?"

"No."

"Girlfriend?"

"No."

The driver was silent as he pulled the handle to shut the door, "Must be visiting from out of town then?"

Timmy looked ahead to Tecna who had her head up to the ceiling as she looked around the bus. He sighed as he gave one last look to the bus driver.

"You have no idea."

The door to the small cell phone repair shop dinged as Tecna and Timmy walked inside. There was a small line to the front counter where a man with a beard and glasses was standing, talking to a middle-aged woman about the concerns that she was having with her phone. There were others looking around at the various cases and other phone accessories for sale. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the repair shop, other than the fact that Timmy had just brought in something, rather someone, anything but ordinary.

Timmy turned to look at Tecna to see that she was headed towards the front counter. She walked past the people in line but Timmy was quick to grab her arm and pull her back to stand next to him.

"What do you think you are doing?" Timmy asked in a whisper.

Tecna reached up and gripped Timmy's wrist firmly and pried his hand away from her arm.

"Do not interfere with an agent on official Federation business."

Timmy groaned, annoyed at the woman beside him, "You are not on official Federation business. These people have no idea who you are nor have any idea what the Federation is. I barely know what it is. So, you will wait in line like the rest of us Earthlings."

"I do not have time to wait." Tecna replied.

"You do and you will wait. Remember, we are doing things the Earth way? You agreed not even two hours ago."

"That was before I knew how utterly inefficient the Earth way is."

"On Earth we stand in line and wait our turn." Timmy chuckled to himself in disbelief that he was saying this to what appeared to be a grown woman. Usually, this concept was taught to toddlers. This raised another question in his mind about the mysterious woman, how old was she?

"How long do you think it will take?" Tecna asked as she looked ahead at the line.

"I don't know." Timmy shrugged as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Is this a reputable place for repairs?"

"I don't know, it was the closest shop on the map."

"Do you think that they will be able to fix it?"

Timmy huffed, "I don't know."

"Will their tools be sufficient en-"

"Tecna!" Timmy exclaimed a little louder than he had anticipated, causing a few of the patrons in line to turn around. Timmy lowered his voice and sighed, "I don't know, Tecna. I have never been tasked with repairing an intergalactic communication device, okay? Just be patient and you will find out."

"For a scholar, you don't seem to know a lot."

The line moved and Timmy took a step forward, glad to be away from Tecna if only for a moment. He closed his eyes and counted.

"Why do you keep counting?" Tecna asked as she joined him by his side.

"To calm myself down," Timmy answered, his eyes still closed, "and I cannot calm down when you keep talking."

"Do I overwhelm you?" Tecna asked.

"No," Timmy opened his eyes and smiled at Tecna, "you annoy me."

"Impossible. I am a top member of the Federation and I have glowing marks on all things academic and professional."

"Nobody cares about you being a top member of some stupid Federation when you are such an awful person. I know that all of this is just beyond foreign to you but on Earth, most people don't threaten to exterminate people and we don't go around insulting people and their ways of doing things. The people who do those things rarely have any friends or anyone close to them because nobody likes them. You have been nothing but overbearing a rude in the past twelve hours that I have known you and I would like nothing more than for your Federation comrades to come and pick you up and take you back the billions of lightyears from whence you came. But like you and this line, I have to wait. I have to wait until we fix your communicator, wait for someone to pick you up. I might die when you leave as per your stupid Federation rules, but right now, I would rather be dead than have to listen to you for another moment. So yes, I have to calm myself down because you are annoying and I cannot stand you."

Timmy had never said anything like that before. How could someone in such a short amount of time elicit a reaction like that from him? Even Riven hadn't caused such a firestorm of emotions from him and Timmy swears that one of Riven's favorite past times is making fun of him. But Tecna…Tecna was something else. Figured that it would take a literal alien to get such an alien reaction out of Timmy. Timmy was known for being relatively calm. He was no Helia or Nabu, but Timmy did a fairly good job in regulating his emotions but there was something about Tecna that made regulation nearly insurmountable.

He looked down at Tecna, searching for any kind of emotion behind herb big, blue eyes but they remained unchanged. Had she not heard him? Was she not mad at him for saying such hurtful things to her? Was she not sad? Most people would be either defensive or be utterly devastated but not her. She looked the same as ever.

"Your tone is once again hostile, and I will not engage with such a manner of expression. Please, return to a tone more regulated and appropriate. I will allow you to take the time you need to return to stasis. We may engage with this discussion when you are fit for polite conversation."

Tecna took a step forward as the line moved, leaving Timmy behind. Timmy looked ahead, his eyes focusing on the back of Tecna's head.

What the Hell was this woman?