CHAPTER TWO: Alien Encounter

Voices barely distinguishable, off in the distance invaded her consciousness. Elyse become aware of pain…lots of pain and she moaned. A touch of something cold on her body, she couldn't tell where, cut through the agony…a soothing voice then blackness.

Voices again – distant, but this time distinguishable. What were they saying? She strained to hear, to understand.

"How is she?" A man's voice asked

"Holding her own now." A second male voice.

"Will she be alright?"

"Looks like it. We nearly lost her a few times. She shouldn't even be alive, not with the injuries she received." He sighed loudly. There was a pause. "Any idea who she is?"

"None. There's not much left of her ship. We did find traces of bodies, three or four I think, but that's about it."

"No markings? Nothing?"

"Nothing distinguishable yet. But we're working on it."

Elyse fought to wake up, forcing her body to move as the conversation swirled around her.

"…couldn't tell you how long before she regains consciousness." The first man continued, "Maybe never. It all depends on her."

Elyse groaned, willing herself awake.

Both men stopped talking.

"Stephen, I think she said something." The second man said urgently.

"Shhh" the first man commanded the other while bending low, "It's okay, you're safe now" he said quietly, his face close to hers.

"What's your name? Who are you?" The second man asked quickly raising his voice.

"Michael, enough! Give her a chance." Turning back to Elyse, the first man said quietly "My name is Stephen, I'm a doctor. You're going to be okay. What's your name?"

Opening her eyes a little Elyse forced her eyes to focus on the face in front of her, but quickly gave up, her body succumbing to fatigue.

"Elyse…" was all she managed before giving in to the darkness again.

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Elyse had no idea how long she had been unconscious, but as she woke up she noticed that she did feel better. Opening her eyes slightly, Elyse looked around the room. Where was she? Was this a hospital? If so, what kind of hospital? None of the equipment around her was familiar. She could see people all around her, some working at various consoles, some lying on beds, and some working at the bedsides. She spotted a familiar face, the man she saw earlier…what was his name? Stephen. That's it.

Elyse continued to look around, taking in the various sights and sounds of the strange place she found herself in. Suddenly, she stopped cold. What she was looking at made her doubt very much she was even awake, let alone sane. Indeed, she seriously doubted her sanity at that very moment. Standing just a few feet away was a…what WAS that????? She looked away and closed her eyes tightly, absolutely certain that she was hallucinating. Did she actually see tentacles??? No! That…that's impossible!

"This isn't real." She told herself aloud, "I did NOT see that. I will open my eyes and it will be gone." She continued trying to convince herself of that very thing.

Gripping the sheets with both of her hands, she opened her eyes slowly and looked slowly toward the place where she saw the – thing – all the while trying to convince herself she had imagined it all.

"I will not see…uhhhhh…" she spotted the tentacles "uhhhhhh…." She managed before sheer panic made her forget to breathe.

Off in the distance she heard alarms sounding, but her eyes were riveted to the tentacles. They were MOVING! Damn! They were looking at her! Suddenly people surrounded her; one obstructed her view of the tentacles.

"Elyse!" It was Stephen.

She looked at him and suddenly became aware that she had not breathed in a while and was quite uncomfortable. Gasping in a lung-full of air, she frantically waved toward the apparition and looked at Stephen pleadingly.

"Tentacles!" she gasped, grabbing his sleeve in a panic. "Tentacles – face!!!"

Stephen glanced behind him and turned back to Elyse. "Of course, he's a Pak' Mara, that's normal."

"Normal? Normal? You call that NORMAL?!!" She squeaked, hysteria taking full control. "How can that be…? Never mind…I'm outta here!" Using Stephen's sleeve for leverage, she sat up fully intending to get the heck out of there, but a sudden sharp stabbing pain in her abdomen put a stop to all that. "OWWWW!!!" she yelled as she fell back on the bed. Badly frightened and completely helpless, Elyse began to wail in hysterics. She wasn't even aware of the shot she received only of the blackness that once again overwhelmed her.