I was never much of a drinker back home, but when you go to an alien bar, there’s all kinds of crazy booze to get fucked up with.

  I messaged Zyno on the communicator to see if he was still awake, and he responded right away he’d been more than eager to meet up with me. He came down to the hotel bar, and the two of us had a quick catchup as we shared a bottle of some crazy pink liquor that tasted like candy and went down like silk.

  “The whole thing is just so crazy—everyone planet-side heard what happened on The Radiance. And then poor Tillia got transferred, don’t think I’ve ever seen a revoran so embarrassed.” Zyno said excitedly.

  I groaned and hit my head down against the bar, “She must hate me now…”

  Zyno shook his head, “No way man, she’s like super scared for you; she’s sure your life must be in jeopardy—most of us are worried it’s like a hostage situation between you and Alpha-03.”

  Zyno had always been good about calling her Eve, but now that her monstrous machinations had been unveiled, a lot of people went back to calling her Alpha-03—and I wasn’t about to correct him.

  “So, Tillia knows the whole story, how Eve declared me as her mate?”

  Zyno downed the last of his drink and I refilled it for him automatically, “Yeah, yeah we all heard it. Sounds pretty fucked up man.”

  I let out a heavy sigh as I finished my own drink, “Seriously, what do you make of that? A Predazoan wants me, a simple human, as her mate?”

  Zyno shook his head, “I almost find it hard to believe she even knows what mates are in the right context.” He looked at me with an awkward expression, “Does she, uh, actually know what that means?”

  I nodded as I poured myself another pink drink, “Oh yeah, she’s DTF.”

  “DT—what?”

  I waved him off, “Earth expression, means down to fuck—like they’re ready and willing to have sex.”

  Zyno chuckled a little, “I do love your earth idioms.” Then he turned serious, “Has she given you a choice in the matter, or is it more like the reqarie females?”

  Now it was my turned to not understand, “What’s a reqarie?”

  He smirked, “An arachnoid alien, a matriarchal race where the queen will take dozens of suitable males and…breed them to death, and only the survivors are left to raise the hive.”

  “No, it’s not that bad—not yet; she’s given me a choice in the matter, but constantly tries to seduce me—says it’s only a matter of time before I give in.”

  He wiggled his finger back and forth, “So you haven’t—with her?”

  I reeled back in my chair, “Hell no, would you?”

  He shrugged, “I would like to think I could resist, but when a being as powerful and beautiful as a Predazoan wants to—”

  “Wait, you know what she looks like now?”

  Zyno looked surprised, “Of course, her profile was updated.” He pulled out his tablet and a hologram displayed above it, showing a recent picture of Eve. At the top of the profile it called her Specialty Resource Asset, Predazoan Alpha-03, personal designation ‘Eve’. I scrolled through the profile to see dozens of red security warnings, all the possible risks and dangers Eve posed, and a very short section on how to contain; all it offered was to contact her handler, Specialty Resource Agent Adam Samson in the event of an emergency.

  I clicked off the display and turned to Zyno, “Alright, be honest, what do you think?”

  “About?”

  I waved around vaguely, “All of it—the new Eve and what she wants from me, and what I’m supposed to do with it.”

  He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Then held up his hand, then put it down again.

  “Go on, seriously.” I urged.

  He smiled awkwardly, “You’re asking a man whose only relationship was with a specially designed comfort android—who broke up with me, by the way.” He grumbled.

  I bit down a laugh, “No shit?”

  Zyno sighed, “Apparently I breached some safety protocols, and it shut down shortly after achieving a lower level of sentience.”

  “Dude, that’s really fucked up.”

  He waved me off almost frantically, “We’re not talking about my fucked up, we’re talking about your fucked up, remember?”

  I grinned, “Not sure I want your advice anymore.”

  He gave me a flat look, “Haha. Do you want my advice or not?”

  I shrugged, “I assume you’re going to say you’re so bricked up you’d fuck just about anything that moves at this point.”

  His eyes narrowed even more so they were barely black slits, “That’s what I would say, if we weren’t talking about a Predazoan here.”

  I sighed, “That bad?”

  “That dangerous, more like. This isn’t some android that’s malfunctioned or gained sentience or anything, we’re talking about an Ancient Old One here. Mythos on their race has survived across eons—across the impossibly vast distance of space. For fucks sake, even back on earth you have your Lovecraftian lore. That’s not something to take lightly.” He said seriously.

  I fidgeted with the little silver ring on my thumb—I still kept it with me, and it helped whenever I was feeling anxious. A little comfort from home.

  “She is beautiful though.” He admitted.

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “You think?”

  He almost looked surprised, “What, you disagree?”

  I shook my head, “No, but she said she made that form specifically to please me—to be the most attractive woman in the universe to me.”

  Zyno shook his head slowly, “Not just you, my friend; she would be considered beautiful by just about any metric.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  I continued clicking my ring as I thought over how aliens seemed to share the same general appreciation for beauty—like how Zyno thought Tillia was really attractive too.

  “To you, what exactly makes Eve so beautiful?”

  Zyno looked a little confused, “What do you mean? Isn’t it obvious what makes her beautiful?”

  I shook my head, “Of course, to me, a human, she has attractive human features.” I gestured to him, “But you’re a grendall, so I’m just curious what makes her beautiful to you.”

  He chuckled a little, “Across the universe, you’ll find most sentient races share a predisposition to what they find beautiful—not all, of course, but the ones who’ve evolved along similar bipedal forms.” He made a curvy gesture with his hands, “That impossibly feminine figure of hers would be a universal symbol for fertility. Her large, innocent bright eyes. That deeply pale skin—”

  “The pale skin does it for you?”

  He nodded, “On a female, yes, especially when framed in darker features—the black hair and lips and markings around the eyes. That contrast makes her form wildly enticing.”

  And it was at that moment I realized curvy goth girls were universally considered sexy. Holy shit.

  “And those tentacles in her hair, just hidden almost out of sight, that’s a marvelous addition.” He added.

  My eyebrows show up, “You like the tentacles?”

  He nodded, “Of course, she almost seems like a combination of the two most desirable evolutionary lines. Mostly, she seems mammalian, but she has that slight accent that’s almost aquarius—like the celicapoz, you know?”

  I shook my head, not sure who he was referencing.

  “Oh, uh, you know Doctor Yun?” He asked. I did; she was that really beautiful squid alien, very slender and elegant with her nearly translucent veils and frills.

  “Yeah, she’s really sexy too.”

  Zyno nodded, “Right, and Eve seems to be a mix between the two—the perfect combination.”

  I laughed at that, “Boy, you should hear her tell it…” I shook my head.

  Zyno smiled, “Point is Eve would be considered universally beautiful—probably the most beautiful woman aboard The Radiance.” He sighed, “You certainly have a tough fight ahead of you.”

  “And you think I should fight it—fight her advances?”

  “What, you’re thinking of giving in?”

  I shook my head, “No, just worried I might eventually.” I gave him a sad smile, “Space can get lonely after a while.” I said, repeating Kianna’s words.

  Zyno lifted his glass, “I’ll drink to that.” He downed it easily, and I drank mine too.

  Zyno slammed his glass down and looked at me with a serious expression, “Look, Adam, it might be tough, and who even knows how many men aboard The Radiance would fold before her seductions, but the one good thing to consider is it might not last forever—her attention on you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He tapped at his tablet again to pull up her profile once more, and pointed out a specific section, “Right here, it says she’s unpredictable, changes focus frequently, distracted motivations. For all we know, you just need to wait her out until she gets bored and moves on.”

  “Right, but what’ll she move onto next? I am her handler after all.”

  Zyno shrugged, “Who knows, but she’s only been this version of Eve for day now. At least give it a cycle before you get all doom and gloom on me.”

  He had a point there; for some reason it felt like this new Eve had been around a lot longer than she had—we’d only been talking for little more than a day. Perhaps I just had to wait around for her next evolution. But there was another part of me that couldn’t help but feel this version of Eve had been around the whole time—connected to the original Eve. She did say they were all one being—different stages of development through her evolutions. Was this really something I could wait out, or was this the final Eve? As she said it, this was her perfect form.

  In the end, I decided to keep my doubts to myself. I placed a companionable hand on Zyno’s shoulder, “Whatever happens, I’ll be looking to you for support.”

  He nodded along as he refilled our glasses, “I’ll be here, supporting you all the way.”

  It was nice to have the little break—the normal male comradery. Things sure were simply when it was just you and your buddies—no outerversal intergalactic terrors to be concerned with.

  ***

  I returned to my room rather drunk, stumbling around to the point I could barely get my door open. Whatever that pink candy liquor was, it certainly did the trick, and I would need to take some aboard The Radiance before we left. I walked inside and nearly fell over, laughing to myself and telling someone who wasn’t there to be quiet. The TV was on a low volume, and I saw Eve huddled up in blankets in bed. She watched me with wide eyes as I entered the room but didn’t say anything. I kicked off my shoes and flopped onto the bed, and then that weird spiraling floating feeling happened that almost made me sick.

  “Adam?” Eve said in a quiet voice.

  “Yeah?” I grumbled.

  She was silent for a few moments, her glowing yellow eyes studying me, “Are you still mad at me?” She asked meekly.

  It really wasn’t fair how cute she was sometimes, “No—well, maybe a little. That was fucked up what you did back there.”

  “I know, I’m sorry.”

  I felt like I was too drunk to have a serious conversation, but my inebriated state caused my words to jumble out regardless, “Don’t you get I don’t want to control you? Like, the only reason I even wanted the failsafe was so no one else would use it. So why in fuck would you think to make me use it to prove some stupid point?”

  “I’m sorry, it’s just…hard for me. I have all these thoughts and feelings and they’re constantly raging to get out—physically and emotionally, to the point sometimes I can’t even make a single sensible decision.” She explained.

  “Big scary Predazoan overwhelmed by human emotions, if that isn’t a joke…” I mumbled.

  “You laugh, but that’s honestly what it feels like. I don’t know if it’s the human emotions by themselves, or if they’re somehow supercharged in my Predazoan hivemind consciousness, but I feel so much all the time, and it’s hard to just contain myself sometimes. I feel like I could explode—like I want to explode.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be so human then.” I offered.

  “No, it’s a strange and frightening feeling, but it’s also wonderful and euphoric. I never want to change back to the cold, clinical hivemind I used to be. I love who I am, and I love my human emotions.”

  I covered my eyes with the crook of my arm as my nausea settled down a little, “Maybe you’re just, like, immature?”

  “What?” She snapped, sounding offended.

  I shrugged, “I mean think about it, you’ve only had these human emotions for a little while now—back when we first got on The Radiance, they said you had all that human DNA in your core. Now you’ve also altered your body to be more human, so who really knows how mature you are by human standards? A couple cycles? A couple days? Maybe you just need to chill out more, slow down and give yourself time to adjust.” I reasoned.

  Eve huffed out a sigh, “I shouldn’t need time to adjust. My mind processes information faster than the most powerful supercomputers in the Empire; I should have been able to adjust to my new emotions within hours—minutes even.”

  “Emotions aren’t just information to process, it’s shit you gotta feel too.” I countered.

  “Maybe.” Eve said quietly, then paused for a few moments, “Will you be patient with me, while I adjust?”

  I nodded, “If you behave.”

  She laughed at that, “I’ll try.”

  Silence fell between us, and I could just barely hear the soft audio from the TV.

  “Adam?”

  “Hm?”

  “Could I get into bed with you?”

  I sighed, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Eve.”

  She was silent for a few beats, “I promise I’ll behave; I just want sleep close to you like how we used to back on earth and in my containment cell.”

  I was drunk and weirdly exhausted even though I hadn’t been up for most of the day. It was still dark out, but I think morning was only a couple hours away.

  “Fine, but fully clothed and fully blanketed the entire time.”

  Eve trilled in that happy, musical way I hadn’t heard since she started speaking like a normal person, and it caused a weird pang in my chest. Eve hopped into my bed and situated herself so she was right next to me. I moved my arm just enough so I could see she was bundled up in blankets like she always did back in her terrarium. “How come you bundle yourself up like that, almost like you’re nesting?” I asked.

  Eve shrugged as she tightened the blankets around her and leaned more against me, “I don’t know, I just find it comfortable. Back on NX-947b, we were in these little containment units without any cover at all, so I think finally having some covers to bundle myself in acts as a kind of comforting defense.”

  Now I felt a little bad hearing about the days Eve was just a science experiment; even if she was a monster, she never deserved that cruel treatment.

  “Are you okay helping the research team then? Don’t you want, like, revenge or something?”

  Eve shook her head, “No, we had our revenge when we destroyed NX-947b; any researchers that remain didn’t have any direct connection to the cruelty unleashed upon us.” I suddenly felt a hand through my hair, “And it all led me to you, so I’m fine with what’s happened in my life.”

  As Eve stroked my hair, I felt an insane calm wash over me. I wasn’t so worried about her in that moment—I wasn’t afraid of the monster who shared my bed. For the first time in a long time, it felt like I was spending time with my Evie again.

  “I love you, Adam.” Eve said softly. As I drifted off to sleep, I had fleeting dreams about my little Evie back on earth, and I wasn’t sure if it was part of the dream, but I thought I heard myself mumble “I love you too…”