Explorers of the Universe

Chapter 5: Finds and Discoveries; How Far for Answers

Medical Area

Quarantine Room

Isaac was sitting Indian style on the floor in the quarantine room. He was looking or rather keeping an eye constantly at the sole occupant of the glass-doored room. There, lying on the floor curled up and still wearing the band outfit, was the orange-skinned alien girl that had nearly trashed the whole hangar of the Prometheus. Isaac rested his chin on his left hand, prompting himself up on his knee as he looked at the peacefully sleeping girl in the room.

And his mind wandered back hours ago after the indecent.

Hours Ago

The orange girl was sealed in the quarantine tank, as the crew trained their guns on them. Vickers, unlike everyone else, was as calm as always, but inside she wanted to throttle the idiots who brought in such an uncontrollable creature just to see the ship getting torn apart.

"We should shoot her out the airlock, right now," Vickers shot out, and then turned her attention to Isaac and Gwen, as she berated, "Didn't I tell you that if we encountered these Creators, you weren't to contact, touch, or even associate with them?"

"Yeah, but you left out a loophole," Isaac pointed out, earning confused looks on all of their faces. He sighed, as he walked over to the tank, and pointed to the girl, "She's not one of the Creators."

"He's right," Gwen stated as she explained. "From what we saw, these Creators are giants, chalk white skinned, and black-eyed." She then pointed at the downed girl, "She's clearly not one of them."

"Still doesn't make her any more of a threat if we let her loose," Vickers.

"So what are you planning to do? Throw her out and hope she explodes like a balloon," Isaac asked, very frustrated that this Vickers woman had no respect for any life.

Vickers turned her back to leave, as she simply stated, "It's an idea."

"Now hold on," Marek stated, trying to be the tie-breaker as well as the peace keeper and reasonable voice among them. "We're not a lynching mob; we're a rescue team. And right now, we don't know where the rescue-es are, let alone any clues." He then pointed to the alien occupant, as he stated, "She might be the only key clue we've got."

Vickers turned around, looking unconvinced, as she stated, "A key clue that doesn't speak a word of English? Oh yeah, that'll be helpful to all of us on this."

"Actually, she does speak English," Isaac confessed. They all turned to look at him, almost in question, as Isaac innocently shrugged, "She kind of started to after she, um… well, you know."

The guys sighed, as they looked at him, questioning if the boy was thinking clearly on that, but Rei stated, "She did seem to calm down once that happened. Perhaps she seems to not see Isaac as a threat unlike the rest of us."

They all looked to Isaac, as the boy seemed to now be the center of attention. Isaac looked back to back, until he finally asked, "What?" Then he finally figured it out, as he defensively denied, "Oh no. Please no. No…"

"Why not? If you're the only one that she seems not to get hostile around, you'll be our peace-broker," Marek replied. He then looked to Vickers, as he asked, "If that's alright with you, isn't it?"

Vickers was silently fuming that she wasn't getting what she wanted on this. She was supposed to be in charge, as she sighed, but looked to Isaac, "The minute I hear she wrecks something… we're leaving this god-forsaken planet and rendezvousing with the Ishimura."

She then left, along with the other crew, even with Marek giving him a thumbs up, and walked out. Gwen patted Isaac on his shoulder, as she smirked, "Have fun."

"This is too much," Isaac sighed. "What am I gonna talk to her about?"

Jeff stopped near him, as he asked in a joking manner, "Why she kissed you? Or will she do it again?" And walked away laughing.

Isaac groaned, as he grumbled, "Oh sure. Laugh it up, pal." But then looked to the downed girl, as he sighed, "Man, what if she does ask me that?"

Present Time

Isaac looked at the downed girl after his thoughts from the past were over, and thought to himself, 'I think the last place she wants to wake up in is in another cell like that cryo-coffin.' He thought about it for a moment, but then it clicked.

Later On

Lounge/Cafeteria

Moments later, the alien girl was still unconscious, but now she was lying on the pool table, with a blanket draped on her to keep her warm. Isaac was sitting next to the table in case of the event she woke up. The top of his suit was off, with a brown jacket on in place of the SIG pack and armor plating. He leaned on the table, looking at her, while he thought about his actions.

'Yeah, it's better she wakes up not in a cell again. And to someone she recognizes rather than a stranger.' He deeply sighed though, as he remembered back in the hangar. 'Except now she might think I tricked her after Vickers shot her with that tranquilizer.' He shivered a little, feeling someone just stepped on his grave. 'Boy, is she going to be ticked when she wakes up.'

However, he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard her moan and turned his attention back to her. She stirred a little, almost in a cute manner, as she started to wake up. She lifted herself so she was sitting upward as she looked around groggily, but managed to wake up, as she now had a confused look on her face.

Then she spotted Isaac, who nervously waved at her, "Hi. How are you feeling?"

She looked confused at first, unable to remember him… until she remembered as it showed on her face when she made an angry expression. "YOU!" she yelled, as she jumped in his direction, grabbing him by his shirt collar as she pushed him back to the wall, and held him up against it, as her eyes glowed bright green in anger, "I will not fall for your tricks again!" Her hand then glowed green again, as it was forming up a bolt or two, as she held up her hand menacingly in a threatening manner, "Now tell me where the Creators are!"

Isaac had a nervous look on his face as he tried to explain, holding his hands up in defense, "Easy, easy. I'm sorry about what happened earlier. But it wasn't me; it wasn't right for Vickers to use a tranquilizer shot like that."

The alien girl had a confused look on her face, as she asked, "Tranquilizer?"

"It's a shot that puts people to sleep…" Isaac replied, but the alien girl's anger rose, as she held him higher, causing his feet to dangle, as he garbled out, "Argh!"

At that answer, the alien girl's eyes glowed even brighter, which Isaac could guess that meant she was now even angrier. She seethed out, as her hands were glowing for another energy bolt, "Then you were planning to put me back in the capsule to experiment on me! Like your Creator companions have done to me for six stellar years of my life, since I was of ten!"

"No! We found the silver chamber you were in while looking for the Creators. We had no idea you were inside of it," Isaac explained while avoiding the risk of angering her further. The girl on the other hand continued to glare at him with her glowing green eyes.

"I'm sorry if I've offended you in anyway," Isaac asked, hoping that she wouldn't attack. "I was just trying to be nice."

The girl raised an eyebrow in confusion, as her eyes glowed still, "Nice? What is this 'nice' you speak of?"

"Y'know? Polite manners, being courteous, showing signs of being trustworthy and courtesy etiquette," Isaac did his best to explain. "Don't you have anything on your world that's like that?"

She frowned, as she stated, "We do not have this word on my homeworld of Zamaran. The closest we have is "rutha". It means 'Weak'." her free hand started to glow showing she was getting ready to attack again.

"Well for certain others on this ship like myself, nice means being nice to others," Isaac saw that this wasn't going well, so he tried a different approach. "I understand, you're angry about before, and with however you ended up in that chamber." He used his free hands to hold the hand she was using to hold him up and showed her a calm expression on his face. "I promise you, I mean you no harm, and never meant for things to end that way. I also promise that you that none of my friends and I won't put you in back in the chamber against you will."

She kept looking at him with glowing eyes and saw no hint of him lying in his eyes as she looked at his hands holding hers. For all the time, he hadn't tried to force it off with the strength he used before. Her angry expression changed to a calm one as her eyes stopped glowing as she gently put him down.

Isaac straightened himself up as he caught his breath, "Thank you."

The Alien Girl looked at him with a neutral look, until she finally asked, "You are looking for the Creators? Why?"

Isaac imply replied, "I'm hoping that once we find them, we find my parents."

The alien girl looked surprised, as she asked, "Your parents were taken by the Creators as I was?"

Isaac shook his head, "No, they went looking for them." The alien girl seemed confused, until Isaac explained, "They found a cave painting depicting an illustration of a giant pointing to the stars, and compared them to other carvings and art they found all over our world, all depicting the same thing. Afterwards, they found that it was a map that would lead them here. My parents made it their goal as to learn of the Creators and why they made us."

The alien girl frowned at him, as she stated, "It is a foolish thing to seek out the Creators. If the Creators are aware of you here, then the fault of being captured and experimented on is your parents! I think it would have been better being in stasis just to await another torture of experimentations, but you insist upon the 'being nice'!"

Isaac seemed to take offense on it, as he pointed out, "Foolish!? You toss me around, you nearly wrecked the ship almost killing all of us, and then you do the craziest thing of all by getting me confused when you kissed me! I'm trying to find the only family I have left, and you think that's foolish compared to what you nearly did by killing us all from the nitrogen-filled atmosphere outside?!"

But the anger between them was halted, as the alien girl was a bit on the clueless side. "Kiss? What is 'kiss'," the orange-skinned girl innocently asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

Getting a little nervous on the subject now, Isaac tried to clarify it, "It's basically what you did with me back in the hangar bay." She still seemed confused on that, as Isaac sighed, "Mouth-to-Mouth. Lips to lips sort of deal."

It was then the girl understood, as she sat up right, and smiled nonchalantly, as she explained, "Oh! That was merely the transferal of linguistic knowledge." Now it was Isaac's turn to look confused, but the girl simply replied, "It is how my people, the Zamaranians, learn to translate. The people of my planet are able to learn and speak any language instantaneously through lip contact."

Isaac blinked at that, as he finally pieced it together, as he asked, "So when you kissed me, you learned Earthling?" The girl nodded, but the Isaac became confused, as he asked, "But wait. How can a species learn how to speak another language by kissing them on the lips?"

The orange-skinned alien girl merely shrugged, as she replied, "My people are uncertain as to how it is possible either. But we just know that we can do it."

"Sorry, I'm just trying to find some internal logic to this," Isaac confessed, still confused.

The orange-haired girl innocently shrugged, "There is no external logic to it at all. I am Zamaranian, and you are Earthling. There are similarities from which I can see we share, but there are differences. That will always be shown."

Isaac seemed unsure of that but nodded. "I see. That's pretty handy." He has somewhat of a disappointed look on his face as his eyes look to the side which leaves the girl confused. 'Damn it. Why am I disappointed by that? We just met for crying out loud.' He then wonders something. He looks back towards the girl who has moved closer to him.

"Are you feeling all right? Are you perplexed by my answer?" The girl asks without noticing that Isaac was caught off guard at how close she had gotten along with what she was still wearing leaving him a little embarrassed.

"Eh, I uh…" Than a thought comes to him making him wonder. "Wait. Does that mean you gain more than just the language I speak? Like my skills, my memories, and thoughts?"

The orange haired girl shook her head to that answer. "No, only how to speak the language of others."

"Can you write in them," Isaac asked.

She nodded, "Yes, the alphabet of that language also becomes part of my knowledge."

"So then you'd be able to understand what I write down then," Isaac stated, as he grabbed a ketchup bottle, as he leaned on one of the tables. The alien girl looked over his shoulder, as she witnessed him writing his name. He pulled away, and asked, "Can you read that?"

She nodded, "Of course. It reads 'Isaac Shepard'." But then she looked to him, and asked, "But what is an Isaac Shepard?"

Isaac chuckled, as he pointed to himself, "That's my full name. But everyone calls me by my first name: Isaac."

The alien girl smiled at that, as she put her hands together, as she stated, "Oh. Then in that case…" she gently took the ketchup bottle, and wrote next to him her name: Kori And'rz.

Isaac read it aloud to make sure he read it right, "Kori And'rz, eh?" He looked to her and asked, "I'm guessing your first name is Kori, right?"

She nodded, as she smiled, "I believe in your tongue, my name translates as Starfire. It was what my mother had given me when she once told me she named me as my hair glowed like stars."

Isaac smiled at that, as he looked at her hair, commenting, "Well, she was right; your hair does glow like stars."

Kori looked a bit startled by that, and looked away, blushing, as she commented, "I thank you… Isaac."

Isaac smiled at that, but then realizing things were getting a bit too close, he cleared his throat, and asked, "Um… so tell me: how did you end up as a guest aboard the Creators' and ended up here?"

Kori's smile faded, as she gently sat down, looking depressed, as she explained, "I was not a 'guest'. I was 'prize and experiment'. As was my sister, Komi. We were both taken and experimented on the limits of the energies that we store in our bodies due to absorbing sunlight and radiation, which we use to enable us to fly. They had discovered a way to utilize it to enable us to gather it and expel it as a form of defense. They believed it could be used for their future purposes here. As for my sister… I had learned she had escaped, to which caused a disturbing epidemic that wiped out all the scientists."

Isaac was quiet for a moment, as he innocently asked, "And what they did to you out there… and here…?"

She looked to him in depression, as she replied, "Not nice."

Suddenly, a loud and guttural rumble echoed throughout the room, causing Isaac to look around in confusion. The noise had no source to it, and Isaac was just confused as ever on where it came from. But then he looked to Kori… who was blushing and looked embarrassed by the sound, as she gently rubbed her tummy.

The earthling boy sat down, and blinked, asking her, "Is that your stomach?"

Kori nodded, "Yes. It has been quite a long while since I had any sustenance." She gently rubbed it looking down, "My stomachs are empty at this point."

Isaac smirked, as he stood up, "Well, I think we might have something in the food bi…" but then stopped, as he asked, "Wait. Stomachs?" Kori innocently nodded to that, but Isaac asked, "How many do you have?"

Kori thought about it for a moment, counting her fingers while looking up at the ceiling, and finally answered, looking at Isaac, "Six stomachs."

Isaac stared at her blankly, as he finally managed to speak out, "That's… not possible."

That statement made Kori frown, as she asked dejected, "Are you stating that I am lying about my biology?!"

Realizing he offended her, while she puffed her cheeks in anger (which made her cute), Isaac cleared it up, "No, no! that's not what I meant!" he finally calmed down, as he stated, "It's just that on our world of Earth, we have a creature called a Cow; they've got four stomachs and are as big as vehicles there." He then pointed to Kori, as he stated, "I'm just saying you're too thin and small to have that many stomachs."

That compliment made Kori looked at him in surprise, as she blushed for some unknown reason. Realizing that he was dangerously flirting with an alien girl, albeit a very beautiful one, Isaac turned around, as he hid his own blushing, "I'm um… gonna go check the kitchen. Hopefully something must still be fresh on the Prometheus's kitchen and cold storage." And then quickly made chase for the kitchen, leaving Kori to herself.

Her shocked face subsided into a small warm smile, as she commented, "The people on this ship are strange indeed." And looked back at Isaac's retreating form, as she smiled, "But they are very friendly, kind, and…" blushed again, "… very nice."

Unknown to her, the same orb that Isaac had brought aboard the ship was hovering at the doorway, looking at Kori without her noticing. Its glowing blue lens blinked, as it simply said, "Fascinating." And then flew off to wherever else.

Elsewhere

Unknown Location

In a secret chamber in the Prometheus ship, illuminated by a dark yellow light emanating from a hyper sleep chamber, Rei was standing above the chamber using the same specs that she used to view Isaac's memories aboard the Falcon on the trip to Aegis 7.

"No sir, I'll have it taken care of," Rei said, but she was alone in the chamber room. "Yes sir, understood. I apologize." Rei continued speaking into the helmet as if she was speaking to who or whatever was inside the hypersleep chamber. "Fortunately, the expedition is still in the early stages. We hope to discover more tomorrow as soon as the storm subsides." Rei was silent for a minute as if she was being spoken back to. "I understand sir. It will be done." Rei finished as she pushed a button that dimmed the yellow light from the chamber as she removed the specs with a neutral expression and left the room.

As Rei walks down the hallway, she turns the corner to find Vickers waiting on the side there with her cold stare.

"Miss Vickers, I was just on my way to speak with you," Rei says as Vickers moves in Rei's way to prevent her from leaving.

Still maintaining her cold glare as she asks her, "What did he say Rei?"

"He gave instructions for our guest, but I don't think he'd want me to tell you the first part," Rei responds with as she tries to leave.

But was blocked by Vickers who continued as she asked again, "Aside from our...guest," her tone showed distrust in the alien girl from the coffin, "… what did he say?"

Rei maintained her cool though, "I'm sorry the first-" Vickers had enough as she grabbed Rei by the neck and forced her against the wall, despite the difference in strength between the two, "part is confidential."

Vickers face showed anger as she threatened Rei, "Listen to me, you walking you piece of junk, I will find the cord that makes you function, and I will cut it out to the point of beyond repair. What did he tell you?"

It was clear that Vickers thought very little about Rei to the point of being fine with killing her and hated being kept in the dark by something she saw as inhuman.

Rei continue to be calm as she finally responded to the threat. "What he told me was: Try harder." Vickers looked displeased by the answer as Rei continued. "As for our new guest, she is to be placed on the exploration team, and no harm is to befall her from any of the crew members."

Vickers face became angrier, "We can't trust that freak. For all we know, she was placed there as a trap. Besides, you saw the damage she did to the ship." She tightens her grip on Rei as she growls, "She is too dangerous to trust."

Rei on the other hand kept her cool, "Orders are orders, Miss Vickers. Would you like a cup of tea before I start on registering her SIG suit?"

Vickers moved her hand up to Rei's face as if she wanted to tear it off and shut her down, but reluctantly stopped as she merely shoved Rei aside, and went to leave. "That monster's involvement will only lead to our mission failing," Vickers said as she left Rei behind to pick herself up.

Rei then walked off elsewhere, preparing for whatever she was up to next.

Meanwhile

Lab

Gwen was doing her best to be hard at work with what she was looking for. So far, she was going through the DNA she collected from the Creator as well as Kori's DNA when she was out cold. Currently, she was putting them through the gene cleanser to rid of any impurities in the hopes of finding something. At the moment, she was wondering while her palm screen was going through it, the condition of her cousin being alone with that alien girl they had just found. Isaac seemed to be okay with looking over her… though most of the time, her cousin did stupid decision-making.

But then she sighed, as she had a soft look on her face, remembering the appearance of the girl, "Well… she was pretty. Guess that was the reason why he wanted to…"

But then stopped as her screen pinged, and looked at it. Her face went from soft to shocked, as she realized what she had found. The scanning had turned up the results… and showed that their DNA, along with the alien girl's, and the Creators… matched. Although the base-pairs were of different numbers; Humans-4, Creators-12, and the girl's-6.

Gwen was shocked to say the least, as she voiced out the obviousness to all the answers to the questions that plagued her when she grew obsessed with her aunt and uncle's research, "Oh my god. It's us. It's everything." But the real question was still left, "What killed them?"

Later On

Kitchen

Lounge/Cafeteria

On one of the tables, a mess of empty plates, all past their expiration dates, were empty and piled up. Isaac was sitting at one table, eating what appeared to be jello cubes, while he looked in awe at his friend's… dinner. Kori was consuming the entire rotten food as well as the spoiled meals; she was practically cleaning up the Prometheus's spoiled food rations. At first, when he brought them over for her to witness, he thought they would walk over to the Falcon for a meal. But apparently, Kori was devouring it without even gagging or getting sick. Though that couldn't be said much by Isaac, as he nearly barfed the first time he saw it. Though now it was just in awe and fascination that she could consume it all. He figured it must have been due to having so many stomachs.

Isaac blinked, as he just verbally stated his wowness at all this. "Wow. I have to admit, Kori, your digestive system's amazing. You practically ate six meals big enough to feed a family… six times."

Kori was currently sipping a yellow drink of sorts, as she smiled and replied, "I thank you. But I also must thank you for these tangy yellow beverages; they are most delicious." And then sipped again.

However, this time, Isaac's amazed face turned to flabbergasted, as he stated, "Uh, Kori… that's mustard."

Indeed it was mustard, as she pulled away from drinking it, and smiled, rubbing the bottle to her cheek, "Is there more?"

At that moment, Rei walked in, as she seemed to seem befuddled on what had happened to her, as if she was suffering a migraine. Isaac was the first to see her, as he beckoned her over, "Rei. Over here."

She stopped to turn to them, and walk over, as she stood at attention like a waitress, and asked, "May I help in any way?"

Isaac gestured a seat, as he invited her to sit, "Nah, but if you'd like, you can sit. You look like you could use some company." But then he stopped, as he looked to her and Kori, and made introductions, "Oh, first, let me make introductions…" and then gestured to one another, "Rei, this is Kori And'rz. Kori, this is Rei 8."

"It is a pleasure to make acquaintance with Isaac's crew members and friends," Kori said, and then held up a tray that still had food on it… with moldy blue stuff growing in it, as she smiled to her, "This blue-furry food is quite delectable. Would you like some?"

Rei rose her hand up, as she politely declined, "I'll have to refuse. It would be wasted on me."

Kori blinked a moment, as she asked, confused, "Why would you say that?"

"It's because she's a robot," Isaac explained politely. "She can eat regular food as fuel, but she can't really taste it."

"Though in this case, it's a blessing," Rei politely stated, as she carefully looked at the food.

Kori blinked at the realization, as she got up, and circled Rei, equally impressed by her, "She is an artificial lifeform?" and then stopped back at her seat, as she smiled, "You seem so real."

"I am real," Rei replied, but nodded, as she took a seat, "But I do accept the compliment; my builders would have been praised on their craftsmanship." She then looked over to Isaac, as she asked, "You seem rather pleased. Aren't you disappointed?"

"Well, it is only the first day," Isaac stated. "We haven't found my parents or the crew yet, or the Creators. Any living ones." He then blinked, as he asked, "Do you think we wasted our time coming here."

Rei innocently shrugged, as she asked, "Your question would have to depend on what you were trying to find. Or what your parents seemed to seek and find out to achieve."

"What they were trying to achieve was to meet the makers, so to speak," Isaac innocently stated, as he took a sip from a bottle of diet coke. "They wanted to find answers: why they left, what reason did they create humanity. Maybe even the biggest question they hope to answer: why make us in the first place?"

Kori seemed to be taking the conversation in as the two conversed, while Rei replied, "Why do you think your people made me?"

Isaac was in a corner on that, as he shrugged, "Well… Vickers would probably say you were made because we could. I think they did it just to see if it were possible. But to be honest, I really don't know."

Rei shook on that, as she looked away, staring at her hands, "Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator?"

Kori didn't know what was going on, but gently placed a hand on her shoulder, as she asked, "Can you… become disappointed?"

Rei looked to the alien girl, as she simply replied, "No. it is a rather mixed blessing, but I appreciate your concern." She then looked to Isaac, and simply asked, "May I ask something?" Isaac nodded to let her ask, and then she spoke her question, "How far would you be willing to go to find your parents, as well as all the answer they came out here to find out? What would you be willing to do?"

Isaac thought about it for a moment, and then finally shrugged, as he rpelied, "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say… anything and everything. But only as long as you don't forget your reasons or what's really important."

The three were silent when he finished, as he looked away, feeling rather awkward at that moment, until Rei spoke up, "Out of all the philosophical writings I've read on the way to reach here… yours makes more sense than all the rest. Possibly because it's not heartless."

Both Isaac and Kori turned to look at her, as she left, as Kori commented, "I have not known her as long as you have, but she… seems a bit… strange."

"Yeah," Isaac stated.

As she left, Rei allowed a small smile to come up onto her face, indicating she took it to heart.

Later On

Quarters Hallway

Isaac was finishing up a drink and heading back to his room, going to get ready for the night. But apparently, the night wasn't going to be easy for the poor boy, as Gwen ran up to Isaac when she spotted him, "Isaac! Man, am I glad I found you; you won't believe what we found in the lab."

"Cool, I'm staying over in Fifield's quarters for the night," Isaac replied, as they reached the quarters in conversation, and opened the door.

But Gwen asked, "So where's the alien girl?"

"Kori?" Isaac questioned. "She's in the room right now."

Gwen smirked, "So you two are already on the first name basis, eh? Didn't know orange-skinned girls were your type."

"Cute," Isaac grumbled, as the doors closed behind them.

Gwen looked around, as she asked, "So, where is she?"

Isaac shrugged as he answered, "Well, after I left the room to get something to drink, she said she wanted to clean up. So basically, she's in the shower, washing up…", but then he saw Gwen's face staring out past Isaac; it was sort of a brain-dead stare as Gwen's jaw was dropped and she was in a starry state of surprise. Isaac raised an eyebrow as he questioned his cousin's behavior.

It was then that Gwen simply replied as she pointed behind Isaac, and answered in a monotone voice, "Not anymore."

Isaac raised an eyebrow at that as he turned around, and gasped as he saw Kori, wet her hair partially dried off and was wearing nothing as her orange slender luscious figure was dripping a little, with only her hair to cover her amazing breasts. She had heard the door open and heard Isaac and someone talking with him. Eager to see who it was, she got out of the shower, and walked out to see who it was. And much to her surprise it was the red-headed girl that was among the others, as well as Isaac.

At this point in time, all the cousins could do was staring in utter shock and surprise at this turn of events. Here they were, talking about helping an alien girl out, without even thinking about having that said girl in their presence. And now, all of a sudden, that very girl was standing right in front of them, wet, naked, and smiling at them innocently. For Gwen, she was mentally freaking out at seeing such a woman. Isaac, on the other hand, slightly blushed at the awkwardness of the scene, and was completely taken by surprise by this.

Regaining his brain and common sense, Isaac introduced the two to each other, "Uh, Gwen…this is Kori And'rz." And then he pointed to Gwen, "And Kori…this is Gwen Tenalds… my cousin."

Kori remembered the girl as she smiled at her, completely unaware of the scene she was making. Suddenly, Kori rushed over to her, and hugged her, "Oh, it is very nice to make of your acquaintance, Gwen Tenalds, cousin of Isaac." Gwen was blushing madly at having a naked girl with a body like hers getting this close, and Isaac was trying not to get a nosebleed from this, as Kori pulled away, smiling, "It is truly wondrous and delightful to meet you."

Fearing that Isaac's pheromones would get the better of him, she stopped him in time pulling back, "Great, great. But um… you should really wear something, like maybe a towel to dry off."

Kori blinked in confusion, "But I do not need a towel. The lights as well as the ship's air conditioning system will dry my skin. It would only be my hair in need of such to dry off." She innocently looked to Isaac, whose face was reddening up like a tomato, "Isaac, are you alright?"

He finally snapped out of it, as he asked, "Eh, wha…?"

She seemed worried of the reddening of his face, as Kori walked up to him, unaware that she was pressing up to him, making him go redder. "Um, Kori? You um…" Isaac stuttered, trying to tell her to get dressed.

She didn't notice his awkwardness, as she got closer to his face, "Allow me to see your eyes; I just wish to know if you're suffering physically from an illness."

Finally, Gwen snapped out of it, and walked up to Kori, gently pushing her away from Isaac by the shoulders, "Okay, come on, Kori."

But Kori protested, as she stated, "But I fear that your cousin is ill. His skin is turning unnaturally red like a Tetramond."

"Trust me, it's nothing serious," Gwen stated, as they went into the bathroom. "Let's just find you something to wear until we can get you a SIG suit and some clothing of your own."

And with that, the door closed to the bathroom, leaving Isaac alone with his thoughts.

He sat down on the bed, and crashed back first into it, looking up at the ceiling, until he finally uttered, "As if the kiss wasn't bad enough."

Meanwhile

The Temple

Meanwhile, back in the alien temple, Ken was wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out at least some clue as to where the heck he was. But as he rounded the corner, he wished he had just stayed with the group. Before him was a pile of corpses piled together, all Creators like the one they had found earlier on. Only this looked like a scene from the holocaust of WWII. Quite frankly, the place was creeping him out even more.

He stopped, as he huffed in his helmet, leaning to the side to make sense out of all of this, "What the heck happened here?"

Suddenly, his comm on his left wrist pinged, as he lifted it up, "What the…?"

The device pinged, as he opened a map on it, showcasing the entire ship of what had been mapped so far. The temple's structure appeared to be a giant horseshoe-sized and shaped building of sorts. But at the moment, his attention was drawn to the pinging, as he saw the red dot just hovering at the end of the horseshoe's left end.

"It wouldn't ping like that unless…" Ken stated to himself, as it came to realization, "… unless it was reading a life form."

He looked at the pile of dead alien bodies, as he gulped, "Oh man. As if seeing this mess wasn't terrifying enough, I had to get a freakin' ping." He then radioed back to the Prometheus for instructions, but only got static. After a few seconds, he groaned, shutting off comms, "Great. As if getting lost wasn't bad enough, the storm's causing interference with the radio."

He looked back at his map, and noticed that the life form wasn't moving… but rather vanished, as he arched an eyebrow, "What the… it's gone?" Finally, he shrugged, "Maybe it was a glitch; nothing's been going right for me ever since I got here." He then looked down at the hallway, as he noticed the ping came down that way, and sighed, "Yeah, I'm not going down that way."

He then turend around and headed back to the chamber he had left Isaac and company after he couldn't take it anymore, and groaned, "Screw it. I'll wait for them there."

Back on the Prometheus

Isaac's Temp Quarters

After an awkward time, Isaac was dressed down to his under armor suit, which was a sleeveless black wetsuit-like suit, with orange brown lines going down his pecks, and thighs, and an orange brown watch on his wrist. He was currently lying on the bed, waiting for Kori to get dressed and dry off her hair. A while ago, Gwen had shown him the DNA samples, showing that their kind and Kori's were linked to the Creators. But from what Kori had told him, the Creators experimented on her cruelly, as he tried to make sense of all this.

'It's hard to piece together what these guys are like,' Isaac stated to himself. 'Are these guys benign and benevolent… or are they like the Aztec Gods: Cruel and unforgiving with no remorse whatsoever?'

At that moment, the door to the bathroom opened, as Kori walked out. Isaac sat up, but then was staring right at her at what she was wearing. She was dressed in an oversized pink and red trimmed T-shirt that hugged at her body, leaving little to no imagination.

Kori let out a sigh as she smiled and stated, "Thank you so much, Isaac. The shower was simply wonderful."

Isaac was staring at Kori once more as she was finishing drying her hair. Her hair was a little damp and it just seemed really weird that he was staring at her as she was drying it. It was then that Kori caught him just staring, and asked in concern, "Isaac? Is something wrong?"

Isaac shook his head as he shot up on his feet, and was back in thought, "Oh, um, nothing. Nothing at all." He looked away, gulping, 'Darn it. Why the heck does she have to be so super sexy like this? It's enough to drive me nuts and take her right there.'

Isaac turned back, as Kori and he were now five feet from each other, and gestured to the bed, "Here, you can take the bed if you like."

Kori walked over to the bed and sat down, but stopped as she felt the bed. She bounced on it, up and down, almost amazed to be on a bed, as she giggled, "Hmhmhmhm. It has been so long since I slept in a real bed. I cannot remember the last time I slept on something so soft and bouncy." But she stopped as she looked at to what he was doing and asked, "Um, Isaac? Is there not another bed for you to use?"

He shook his head as he said, "Nah, this room has only one bed.", but he waved his hands as he smiled at her, "But I can sleep on the floor; it's alright."

But Kori shook her head as he leaned over, "I object! That is unacceptable!"

But Isaac just lightly shook his head, "I don't mind; it's good for my back anyway."

It was then that Kori thought about it, and decided it would work for both of them. She then stated her idea, "If that's so, then I propose a compromise." Isaac raised his eyebrow as he listened to her compromise, "Instead…we could share it. I do not mind at all."

Of course, Isaac was a little shocked and blushing at this as he nearly stuttered, "Aah…I'm telling you I don't mind at all, so go and get some sleep!"

Kori innocently asked, "But why not? You would not have to give up the bed, and we could keep each other warm in the covers."

Isaac looked away, as he tried to hide his disgruntled blushing face, and simply stated, "Look, Kori. On my planet, it's okay to do that stuff with family members, but it's completely un-okay to do that when it's total strangers."

Kori thought about it, and concluded, "So it is bad when people who do not know each other sleep together, but it is okay that those who know each other do."

Isaac thought about it, as he shrugged, "I suppose so."

Then suddenly, Kori leaned in towards Isaac as she stated, "So then, we could start knowing more about each other right now."

Isaac slightly blushed as he asked, "Eh, what?"

"I do not wish for you to get cold tonight, so if we know more of each other, you can sleep with me tonight," Kori concluded just looked at him innocently as she stated, "Please?"

Now he was really getting flustered, especially the position she was in. Leaning at him on the bed, he had a shot of her cleavage, making him blush even more, as he just stuttered out a frantic cry, "Come on, now! Just get to bed already!"

After a while, Isaac was just lying on top of the covers, while Kori, who looked at him confused, was under the covers, "Are you certain this is best for you?"

Isaac nodded, "I'll be fine. You should get some rest. It's gonna be big tomorrow." And then he turned his back to her, trying to go to sleep.

Kori did the same, but still had her confused face, as she thought, 'Earthling boys are rather… unusual.'

Later that Night

Isaac slept soundly on his side of the bed, but in truth, he was a bit anxious as to what they would find at the temple tomorrow. From what Kori had told him, these Creators were not as benign as his parents believed them to be. They were willing to experiment on others just to further research. And what made things even more confusing as to what Gwen had shown him earlier. They didn't just create both the human race and the Zamaranians, they all came from the DNA of the Creators themselves. This was all too much to take in or to ponder. He needed something to get his mind off the subject, or at the very least, go to sleep in.

He tossed and turned in his sleep for a while, until he settled down. He finally fell asleep for a little while, but then he stirred a while, but felt a little hard to move around. His eyes squinted as he asked himself as he stirred awake, "What the…? Why is it…?" Isaac opened his eyes to see what it was that prevented him to move around…and paled, seeing Kori had scooted out of the covers… and was now holding him.

He paled at this realization, 'Wha…Why is Kori…!?' he tried to wrench himself free of her, but to no avail due to her strength. He cursed under his breath, 'Great! I can't get loose. Sheesh, why did she have to be so strong?' He stopped struggling after he heard a small moan come from her. It was then that he stopped and got a good look at her. He blushed as he looked at her peaceful face, 'Wow! She's too beautiful…'

He went wide eyed as he just realized what he had just said, 'What did I just say? Never mind, I've gotta get out of this before she wakes up to the wrong conclusion.'

He tried as hard as he could to squeeze himself out of Kori's grip, but to no avail. He cursed himself for getting caught in something this stupid. But he then realized the more he struggled, the closer and tighter Kori's hold on him became. But then he paled as he felt something else; it was being pushed on him, as he looked down. The button shirt she was wearing was becoming undone by her breasts, which the cleavage was dangerously pressing into him, as Isaac blushed. And even more, coming from down below, he felt her left leg gently stroking against his. He gritted his teeth as soon as he realized what it was, 'Oh great, now it's her leg too along with her boobs. It's brushing up to mine.'

She began snuggling up to him now, causing much more problems as he groaned, 'Oh man, please let this night be over soon.'

Next Chapter: Fear Transforms; Unexpected Bundle of Horror