Bright light stabbed deep into my head forcing a groan from my lips as I slowly regained consciousness. I squinted against the light, trying to see past it, but it hurt. I screwed my eyes closed and tried to roll away from it. That was when I noticed I was restrained.
Awareness exploded upon me like a bomb. I suddenly realized I was naked, fastened to some kind of metal table at wrists, biceps, waist, thigh and ankle. My head was held in place by padded blocks up against it on either side. My arms were over my head, my legs pulled wide apart. My heart began to race, my breathing quicken as the reality of my predicament burst in upon me.
"Please, do not be frightened," a voice echoed in my head. Yeah, right. That voice was scary on it's own, neither male nor female, androgynous, unaccented, too perfect. I began to struggle against my bonds.
I felt a sting and then a slight burning in my left thigh. My fear retreated, intellectually I was still afraid, but the massive amounts of adrenaline my body had dumped into my system was suddenly counteracted. My heart rate slowed, my breathing returned to normal.
"Better," the voice said.
I say voice. I can't say that I actually HEARD anything. Sure they were words, I think. The THOUGHT of them was in my mind. I sure didn't put them there.
What the fuck was I doing here? I remembered driving home from the party, the long, dark Vermont country road. Sudden bright light and then….nothing. Waking here.
I tried to speak, nothing came out. I cleared my throat and tried again.
"Wh-Where am I?" I sounded calm enough although in some deep, locked away part of my mind gibbering horrors struggled to break free. Whatever they had shot into my leg was good stuff.
"You are perfectly safe and will not be harmed," the 'voice' replied in my head. "We are sorry for this, but it is necessary."
"Sorry for what?" I asked. I was amazed at my calm tone.
"We regret we had to disturb your life and would not have done so if it were not a matter of the gravest importance."
"Who are you. Show yourselves," I demanded.
"Very well," the voice answered.
The blinding light dimmed and a blinked my eyes open. The gibbering horrors tried to come back, but the drug flowing through my system kept them at bay. Standing over me was, well, an alien.
Yah, yah, I know. Tabloid stuff. Bad TV movies. Maybe I was passed out someplace having some strange dream but standing over me was your basic stereotypical bug-eyed alien. Big head, big black almond shaped eyes. Little hole for a mouth. No nose or ears. Gray skin, 2 arms and (I assumed) legs. No hair or any other disruptions to that smooth, leathery looking skin.
"I…uh….you…" I stammered.
"Yes Ellen, I am not from your world," the voice said in my head.
"How do you know my name?" I asked, fearing some kind of, I don't know, brain scan or something.
"It was printed on your driver's license," it answered prosaically.
Feeling stupid, I asked, "Why have you kidnapped me like this?"
The thing had no face or anything to give me any emotional cues, but I'm sure I sensed great embarrassment. Well, the thing seemed to be a telepath, was it also an empath - projecting emotions as well as thoughts? I pushed that aside to concentrate on its reply.
"We have a problem that one of your species may be able to help with." It replied. "Our pilot is….sick and we think you can help him. Until he becomes well, we cannot go home. We believe you can make him well again."
"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked. "I'm an accountant, not a doctor."
"If his condition were a medical one we would not need your help," it replied. "Pilot is of another species from myself. Our biochemistries are very different. Although I look superficially like you, we are vastly different. Pilot looks nothing like your people, but your are biochemically very similar. Very similar."
I've watched way too many horror movies. "So," I whispered, the fear finally breaking past the drugs, "Are you going to feed me to him or something?"
The thing seemed annoyed. "No. Pilot is in…heat - for want of a better word. He is in his season and must mate. He has lost the capacity for rational thought and will not regain it until he successfully mates."