“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I said, nearly breathless I was so pissed off.

  Roote gestured to the hologram display projected from his tablet, “We have our orders; we’re to capture and contain Gamma-12 moving forward.”

  “But she was being completely reasonable! She agreed she would stay within the system—she even said she would be okay with us keeping her under surveillance!” Kianna pressed, looking like she was about to cry she was so frustrated.

  “This is bullshit!” Zyno snapped.

  “Not to mention fucking dangerous.” Lobae added.

  Roote sighed, and for the first time all mission he dropped that harsh authoritative exterior, “Yeah, it is bullshit, and it puts the entire station in danger now, but those are our orders.”

  “Did they at least give some kind of justification?” I demanded.

  Gorgam scanned through the orders quickly, “Apparently due to the unknown nature of her drive to supremacy—what she considers perfection, we can’t allow her to continue consuming additional biomass.” He explained.

  “Even though she isn’t harming anyone?” Kianna pressed.

  Gorgam shrugged, “Command is worried once she reaches perfection that all could change, says we can’t risk that happening.”

  “So, what, they’re worried she’s going to remain peaceful for a thousand years, not killing anyone while syphoning away little samples of biomass, then suddenly turn into an absolute terror?” Zyno asked.

  Eve shrugged, “It’s possible that’s exactly what would happen.” She said mildly.

  Everyone turned to Eve with various degrees of shock written on their faces.

  “You actually agree with mission command’s orders?” Roote inquired, more surprised than anyone.

  Eve shook her head, “Oh no, I still wish I was allowed to kill her when we first met.” She gestured to the tablet, “This really is stupid and dangerous and there’s no way to avoid a violent confrontation at this point.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t think we could talk to her again?” Kianna asked.

  “And say what? Sorry your idea to stay in this lovely paradise was denied, now come with us back to our ship so we can keep you in a containment cell forever.” Lobae snorted.

  I sighed and put my forehead down on the table, “Holy shit, this is the dumbest decision command could’ve made—literally the absolute worst option.”

  “Just names and numbers on a report.” Eve taunted.

  I turned a glare towards her, “Not helping.” I snapped, but she just ignored me as she got back into my lap.

  “Alright, alright so…” Zyno pinched the bridge of his weirdly flat nose with two fingers as he shut his eyes tight, “What’s the plan from here?”

  According to mission command, the only way to get Nyla off the station would be for us to sabotage her room so it would jettison into space, and from there The Radiance would sweep through, grab it, and put it all in a containment cell. It would all be fast and crazy precise, but it was our only option now.

  “That’s a terrible plan.” Zyno said flatly.

  “No one’s ever been able to break into Glorva Corps’ computer system.” Yun added.

  “No one else was working with a Predazoan.” Roote countered, and everyone looked back at Eve.

  Eve looked around as though they’d asked the dumbest, most obvious question possible—in her mind they probably did, “Child’s play.”

  “Really? You can hack into computers too?” I asked.

  Eve waved me off, “Darling, you know how you’re always talking about my supercomputer brain? Did you really think that was just a silly little nickname?”

  I chuckled and shook my head, “There really isn’t anything you can’t do.”

  Eve smiled playfully, “Can’t stop loving—”

  “Don’t say it!”

  “What’s the timeline for the operation?” Vinnago asked.

  “We have to move immediately before Gamma-12 grows suspicious why we haven’t given her any further orders; we do it before evening.” Roote confirmed.

  “Today!?” Kianna nearly shrieked.

  I held my hands up to stop the madness, “Wait wait, are you telling me command won’t even give us one more chance to talk to Nyla? What if she’d be okay with being an asset on the team like Eve—working together with us?” I pressed.

  Gorgam scrolled through the orders again, “It says we’re to refrain from contacting the target again to prevent any kind of altercation.”

  “That’s seriously it?” I demanded.

  Zyno sighed, “Adam, as much as it sucks, that’s how it’s going to go from now on; remember the original briefing for these missions, they always said we would get one shot at trying for a peaceful outcome, and from there we would move in by force—capture or kill.” He explained.

  I looked around at everyone on the team; no one looked happy, but they all already accepted the outcome.

  “Come on guys, can’t we protest or—or ask for some kind of extension or something? Tell them to reevaluate?” I reasoned, almost growing desperate.

  Roote shook his head slowly, “I’m sorry Adam, but we have our orders.”

  No one cared, no one was worried about Nyla, she was just a target to them—Gamma-12. I refused to see the other Predazoans the same way, otherwise what would that make Eve? I didn’t agree with her anger or desire to kill and consume Nyla all for the sake of protecting me, but I definitely wasn’t cool with the idea of capturing her when she was acting all peaceful. The same reason I took little Evie in from the woods back on Earth, I couldn’t just turn my back on this other creature.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Eve held my face in her hands, forcing me to look at her, “Adam, now is not the time to fight against this.”

  I wanted to scream or protest or something, “Why? That’s your sister out there—”

  “No.” Eve said flatly, “That was a dangerous Predazoan with a pure Predazoan core; she doesn’t have emotions or morals, doesn’t look at the people around her as though their lives have any value. She was fond of watching them same as you might be fond of watching an ant farm, and if you try to talk to her again not only will she probably turn violent, but it would worsen our standing with mission command.” Her expression softened, “Is that what you want?”

  I looked deep into Eve’s beautiful glowing eyes, seeing that fierce protectiveness and deep adoration for me. I hated the idea of giving up on Nyla so easily, but I would never sacrifice my relationship with Eve for her; Eve and our future together was my absolute priority. Finally, I let out a defeated sigh, “No, of course not.”

  Eve gave me a sad smile and then kissed me tenderly, trailing a hand through my hair in a gently affectionate way, “My big softie.” She nearly whispered.

  I just rolled my eyes, “Yeah yeah…”

  Roote looked around the rest of the team, “Right, any more objections?”

  Zyno shrugged, “Several, not that it matters, so let’s just get on with the damn thing.”

  ***

  With Eve’s spores and all the agent’s sensors in place, we had a lock on Nyla’s location. Right now, she was still hanging around on the beaches of the core, waiting on us as we told her we were still waiting for orders from mission command. It was easy finding her room working with super special clandestine agents, so we made our way up there with all the gear we needed to rig the room properly for the trap.

  When we got to the door one of Eve’s black hair tentacles split apart into a hundred gold wires and dug into the wall, and in seconds the room opened, and the inside was admittedly a little shocking.

  “It appears she’s made quite the nest for herself.” Vinnago said mildly.

  Normally the regular station rooms looked like fancy apartments with black and gold décor with a few red accents, but Nyla’s room was covered in black and red tentacles and tendrils, with some larger ones pulsing together.

  “Everyone look around and make sure there aren’t any bodies or anything fused into the walls.” Roote ordered.

  We searched through the room and didn’t find any half-consumed people at least, but we did find a few suitcases that clearly belonged to other passengers, but only a half dozen or so.

  “Only a half dozen, my my, darling, aren’t you quite forgiving.” Eve said mildly.

  I fixed her with a flat glare, “Look, I get it, Nyla’s killed people, but that’s just her nature and—”

  “She won’t change Adam, not like I did; she will never view people as more than biomass to consume so she my reach perfection.” Eve countered quickly, leaning in close so our conversation would be more private.

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “And you think you’ve really changed when you say the only person in the universe you care about is me, how everyone else’s lives are meaningless?” I argued quietly.

  Eve shook her head, “I never said I wasn’t a villain either, but I’m a kept woman, so how villainous you want me to be depends entirely on you.” She said, then pulled me close and bit me on the ear.

  I sighed and decided to drop it, and pulled Eve in for a hug instead, “You’re not a villain Evie, and I love you for that; always remember that when you think about doing something villainous.”

  Eve just giggled as she melded into my embrace, “Of course, darling.”

  “Here, I found the control panel.” Densdor called out.

  We went over to the wall and saw Densdor had pulled off the small metal plate that covered the control panel to the room.

  “Alright, so now Eve needs to hack into the room’s control system and plug in our remote device so we can jettison it once Nyla returns.” Lobae confirmed.

  “Is it really that easy?” I asked.

  “Easy?” Zyno bristled immediately, “You know how hard it was to create that little device there? I’ll have you know I’ve been working on it for 10 cycles now.”

  I held up my hands in surrender, “Alright alright, just seems like with Glorva Corps’ crazy security it would’ve been…” I paused, trying to find the right word while Zyno was glaring at me, “More of a production, okay?” I offered.

  Yun chuckled beside Zyno, “To be fair, Zyno’s device never would’ve worked without Eve being able to hack into the system.”

  “Hey!” Zyno protested.

  Eve used her fancy gold tentacle wires and installed Zyno’s device, and once it was in place he synced it up to his tablet so he could control it remotely.

  “Alright, that was the hard part, now we just need to wait it out.” Roote confirmed.

  “How should we do that? Someone shadow the room or something?” I reasoned.

  Roote turned to Eve, “Where’s Nyla now?”

  Eve looked towards the ceiling, “Still by the beach, hasn’t moved at all.”

  “If we’re clear, we should have someone stay behind—maybe a pair.” Roote reasoned, then turned to Lobae and Vinnago, “You two keep eyes on the room, and once you confirm Nyla is back, relay it to us and we’ll coordinate with The Radiance for when to jettison the room so they can make the pickup.”

  “Understood.” Lobae and Vinaggo said together.

  Gorgam clasped his hands together as he looked around at the team, “Alright, anything else we need before we leave? We’ll only have one shot at this, so speak now if you have any further concerns.”

  Everyone seemed like they had some concerns, but no one was willing to voice them—even Gorgam looked like he wanted to say something.

  “We’re really sure this is our only option?” Kianna finally asked in a small voice.

  Gorgam sighed and looked to Roote who just nodded, “Our only orders.”

  Kianna shook her head, “By Nyla seemed so nice…”

  Eve waved it off, “A fa?ade, I assure you; any kindness or pleasantries she offered were all for the sake of her camouflage—and clearly it worked perfectly with how you’re all doubting yourselves over this.”

  “You really think the only reason a Predazoan would be nice is for the sake of blending in?” Kianna asked.

  “You’re not like that, you’re funny and sweet and everything—bit of a brat sometimes, sure, but I doubt that’s all an act.” Lobae added.

  Eve smiled but it disappeared quickly, “Remember, I have genuine emotions that stem from the human DNA in my core. The other Predazoans we meet won’t have that kind of simple DNA mixed into their core, so any portrayed emotions are clearly fake.” She gestured to me, “That was one of your concerns about me, that I was just a fabricated personality.”

  I couldn’t argue with her there; that really was one of my earliest concerns while I was still resisting Eve, but I came to know the human side of Eve and fell in love with her and realized how genuine she was. If the other Predazoans didn’t have that human side—didn’t have those human emotions, then all those jokes and happy smiles were mere fabrications.

  Doctor Gorgam let out a heavy sigh, “We spent decades studying and researching the Predazoans to the point they always seemed so far away, then you finally meet one face to face, and they seem so…normal.” He nodded to Eve, “Doesn’t help our constant exposure to a Predazoan is her, always showing us her wildly human side, displaying her full range of emotions. It’s hard to separate yourself from the target, it kind of gets in your head.”

  “Remember we have a certified psychiatrist on board The Radiance if anyone feels like they need help sorting through this intense mental load—in fact I think I’ll put in a recommendation everyone on the investigation team should have 10 mandatory sessions when we get back.” Kianna confirmed, and everyone groaned in response—finding a new target we could focus on.

  We left the room together, making sure everything was back in place, with Eve holding onto my arm as usual, wrapping her tentacles all around my chest and shoulders like she was worried I would float away.

  “You know I’m not going anywhere Evie.” I told her.

  Eve huffed out a quick sigh, “Do you dislike my touch that much?”

  I rolled my eyes, “So dramatic. I’m not saying that at all, but—”

  “Hey, that’s not your room!” A small voice called.

  We all turned around to find a small green child glaring up at us with accusing eyes.

  Agent Uinda knelt before the little alien, “No, but our friend stays there. We were supposed to meet up, but we haven’t been able to find her.”

  The little green girl looked at our group with clearly growing suspicion, “You know the pretty red lady? Well, how did you get in without her key?”

  Uinda held up her own room key, “I have a copy, Nyla is a good friend of ours after all.”

  The green girl’s eyes grew wide, and she suddenly smiled, “Oh, okay, that’s nice.”

  Uinda patted the girl on the head and stood back up.

  “Just one thing though…” The little girl said, holding up a hand to pause Uinda, “Why are you all trying to fuck with my room?”

  Eve was the only one fast enough to react and cover me and the people closest to us in a black, chitinous shield as the little green girl’s arm exploded in a storm of tentacles, skewering through Agent Uinda, Doctor Dendsor, and my best friend Doctor Zyno.