"Things do not change; we change."

-Henry David Thoreau

The musical whir of the engines relaxed the prisoner greatly. She sat there, eyes closed, as she listened to the whir of the engines as though she were listening to a symphony. There was the occasional onlooker to check on her but they were mostly technicians asking what she was doing in the engine room; her response was the same; "The General allowed me permission down here." They asked no further question from her.

The General was a harsh, cruel, heartless and fearsome military commander. She was his prisoner two months ago, whom he tortured daily for information accusing her of a being a spy for The Union. She escaped his clutches and managed to hide herself for an entire month before he eventually found her and recaptured her. But since then, huge changes seemed to come about from him.

First off, what used to be a routine of being taken from her cell two or three times a day to be strapped to a chair only to be painfully tortured, he never even laid a hand on her in a harmful way. Secondly, she was given more freedom to move about the barge than she had been allowed before. To make things better, no escorts even followed her around or guarded her room, to be more precise, her new room. Yes, even Grievous had given her a new room, although she liked her old one, this one was rather nicer and slightly bigger than her old one.

Yes, it seemed since Eve returned to the Malevolence, things had been better for her. Another droid came to her and asked why she was here, her answer was the same. It was starting to get annoying, so she got up and quietly hovered down a few floors to the one spot she found comfort and relaxation. The unused area used to be help for certain dangerous substances that the droids on the ship could not touch without harming themselves. Eve had found it completely barren and devoid of anything dangerous; even her radioactive sensors couldn't detect anything. Why it was closed off, she didn't know. But she was glad because a pipe that ran past was a pipe that would run to give hot water to the refresher. Apparently, this pipe had not been closed off, that was good because for the past 3 days, Eve had been using this pipe to fill a private make-shift hot tub.

She turned on the faucet as hot steaming water poured out into the basin; she hovered over to the door and looked out to see if anyone was walking up the hallway. She didn't want anyone to know she was here and spoil her privacy; she really loved this place, it kept her relaxed for hours at a time. Grievous never seemed to bother her much; she would usually find him back at her room or just walking through the hallways. He seemed to be more social and more patient around her, there was something really different about him lately…

She shook her head and tried to forget Grievous, he wasn't here, and it was just her and the hot tub. There wasn't a 'soul' around, she closed the door, hovered over to the faucet and turned it off. She saw the steam rising from the hot tub, almost inviting her in; she untied the cloak Grievous had made for her and let it fall to the floor, she hovered into the hot water inside the basin and lowered herself until she felt the bottom and the water almost went over her torso. She gave out a relaxed sigh as she rested her back against the edge of the 'hot tub' and put her arms on the edge as she positioned herself back, relaxing comfortably. She couldn't feel the hot water like how a human could but the temperature felt remarkably soothing for her robotic body.

She decided to play a little music while she relaxed, in her visor, she checked to see what songs were available; they were rather limited. Most of her memory banks consisted of sounds she recorded of creatures, music was really limited. Well, there was one song…she hadn't played it in a while…she always played it when she was alone while she was out in deserted planets, sleeping on the ground. Whenever she was pushed about, she always hummed it to herself to keep her cool.

But the song itself was incomplete. Before she wound up in this universe, she was travelling through the Milky Way galaxy when she came across an old satellite that seemed to be malfunctioning and giving off a sort of Morse code. As she had tried to record the Morse code, the satellite suddenly blew a wire and the song played. She stood there while the satellite played this somewhat broken song that occasionally skipped at some parts but otherwise, she recorded the entire thing while she had stared at the strange satellite. Once the song was over though, she tapped it again to see if it would play more, only ending up short-circuiting it. Since then, she had that one song in her memory banks which she repeated over and over to herself.

She had no idea what it was called or who wrote it or who it was that was singing. But she memorized the sounds and the beat and lyrics of the song, or at least, what didn't skip. She mentally activated the song as it played from her while she closed her eyes and rested her head while the song opened up with it's strange sounds and then to the singer's raspy yet harmonious vocals.

"And I don't want ya, and I don't need ya.

Don't bother to resist or I'll beat ya.

It's not your fault that you're always wrong

The weak ones are there to justify the strong.

She laid there relaxed letting the music play out, it would turn from being somewhat quiet to being somewhat loud and aggressive. The lyrics sounded like the singer had been bullied so much in school he wrote this song as a way of revenge to them; at least that was her presumption. She let the song repeat while she laid there perfectly calm, perfectly relaxed, despite the song's constant skipping.

Eventually some time passed as she felt she had enough of the tub as she 'sat' up and stretched her arm, all while the song was reaching its end with the singer yelling again.

The beautiful people! The beautiful people! The beautiful people! The beautiful people!" suddenly as the song ended, she heard a voice.

"Why does the music sound cut up while it's playing?" she suddenly widened her eyes as she looked through the steam and saw Grievous sitting at the edge of the basin with his feet in the water, She sat up abruptly with her hand over her torso but she realized there wasn't anything to cover so she sheepishly put her hands down.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, almost demandingly. He just stayed there while his hand dipped itself into the warm water and he spun a small circle in the water before he looked back at her.

"The technicians reported hearing…strange noises down here. I told them it was nothing and I would take care of it. Now, answer my question." He replied in his usual rasp. She sighed almost annoyed-like but she had to answer him.

"It was like that when I first heard it and recorded it. I was recording the song from a faulty and broken down satellite from the past civilization. It kind of skips ahead by a few seconds and the audio is a bit cut up in the middle. I dunno…"

"Doesn't it bother you that it does this skipping?" he asked as he looked into her with his seemingly lifeless yellow eyes. He didn't sound as demanding as she had first known him; perhaps he was trying to show more manners towards her? But he brought up a good point.

"It does actually…but the song is rare, I think I was lucky I even found it…" she replied. He stood up from where he was sitting and he walked across the 'hot tub', the edge of his cloak getting soaked in the water; he didn't seem to care. He made his way over to where she was, she was about to hover away from him when he actually sat down in the warm water, his cloak was now getting more soaked but it didn't seem to bother him. His legs poked out of the water while his feet and his waist area remained underwater, his arms rested on his knees as he looked at her.

"I've come to the conclusion you're not even from this galaxy. No star system has the technology or the brains to create something as advanced as you." She looked up at him but eventually looked back at the water.

"Yes…you're right General. I came here by accident and I can't seem to get back…"

"How did you come to this galaxy in the first place?" she looked up at him.

"I was flying around my galaxy in search of plant life when a black hole opened up and sucked me. I came out alive but I had no idea where I was or even where I was but I decided to do everything possible to return home…"

"How long have you been here?" his questions actually sounded inquisitive instead of threatening, that was rather new about him. Still, she was feeling comfortable actually letting this all out.

"Almost two years. Today is actually the day I arrived here…" she remained quiet as she turned her head and looked down at the mater. Grievous looked at her and he gently put his hand up to her head and gently stroked the side of her monitor with his middle and index finger. This form of affection was really different; what had happened to the Grievous who had been torturing her months ago?

"If you ever find a way back to your home…do you think you'll ever find that song…the full song to the one you have?" he said while he looked at her with a look in his eyes that showed adoration but she didn't see it but she could feel his fingers still rubbing her 'cheek' she was feeling something deep down that she couldn't explain why she was feeling like this now.

"I hope…I don't even know who wrote the song or what it's called…" she spoke with a sense of hopelessness.

"I think I have a thought what to call it…" he rasped. She turned her head to look back at him.

"What?" she looked at him curiously, she really did want to know, that was a surprise…

"Well…what about 'The Beautiful People'? Since the singer seems to scream that repeatedly through most of the song…" his fingers stopped stroking her, her left hand, almost as though against her will, moved up and clutched Grievous' hand while she pondered that title.

"'The Beautiful People'….you know…I actually like that…it has a nice ring to it…" she looked back up at him with a thankful look in her eyes while his eyes showed a look that said "you actually liked my idea?".

"You really think so?"

"Yes…." She looked up at him staring into his yellow eyes while she kept his fingers close to her cheek. Logic seemed to dissolve as it was just him and she while they stared into each other's eyes while something seemed to burn inside the both of them while they stared into each other...

"General Grievous; a message has arrived from Count Dooku for you. General Grievous, to the Bridge." called out a voice on the intercom that echoed throughout the engine room this causing Grievous to grunt, annoyed. He stood up water dripped from his soaked cloak and water ran down his legs as he stepped out of the basin and made his way to the door, before he left he looked at Eve who gave a look that seemed depraved and lost.

"I shall meet with you again. I promise." He then turned and left as he closed the door behind him. Eve sat in the basin stunned from what had just happened. She snapped out of it and told herself that Grievous was using his Sith powers on her and she shouldn't fall for it again. As she pulled the plug to let the water drain and she got out getting her cloak. She put her hand to her 'cheek' as she stood there remembering that magical feeling deep inside when she held his hand while pressing in up against her cheek.

"What's happening to me?" she thought to herself