The blasted lights.
Before she can fully wake from her sleep, Tempest groans and turns her head, trying to find a better position to get away from the lights trying to pull her from her slumber.
"Sam, can you turn the lights off, please? I'm so tired."
"Have you woken?" A soft female voice she'd never heard before literally vibrated through her ears.
Tempest's eyes flew open. She blinked fast a few times, trying to adjust to the brightness in the room.
"Oh God. No, please, no." All at once, the memories of what she had been through the last time she was awake rushed to the front of her mind.
She was so sure that it had been a nightmare, that she was going to wake up and be back in her bed at home. That definitely didn't happen. She turned her head from side to side and recognized the same metallic-looking walls she'd noticed the last time she'd been woken up.
"Girl?" The soft voice spoke again, and Tempest cringed as the vibrations tickled her inner ear.
Tempest turned her head toward the sound.
She gasped and whined as she pushed herself backward as hard as she could. Unfortunately, the table that she was on wasn't as wide as she thought, and she wound up falling directly on her ass. She landed with a thud on the semi-solid ground. Thankfully her fall was cushioned, and instead of a sore rump, all she had were terrifying questions.
"Who are you? What are you?" Tempest looked up at the strange-looking woman who stood on the other side of the table.
The woman looked off to the side as if she were waiting for something before she spoke again. "I am Mexyn."
There was a strange twinge to her words, but the name sounded awfully similar to Megan.
"Megan," Tempest replied before she pushed herself from the ground and smoothed her hands over the clothes she had on. The leggings and T-shirt she had on when she made the horrible decision to walk into the ocean had definitely seen better days, but surprisingly they seemed to be clean.
"Yes, that is my name," the woman answered again. "I'm here to help you with your transition."
"Transition?" Tempest tilted her head.
Again, a slight pause before Mexyn answered.
"Yes, the High Council realizes that waking you so soon after your ascension might be shocking for someone like you."
Tempest stared at the woman's mouth as she spoke. There was something off about the way her mouth moved. It was like she was watching a movie in a different language that had been dubbed to be English.
It was only then that Tempest realized that she was communicating with an alien. "Holy crap, how is it that you can understand me?" Temp moved a little closer to the table, still not wanting to get much closer to the woman.
"Oh, that's simple. It's the translator device we've implanted into your ear."
As Mexyn spoke, that annoying vibration continued in Tempest's head. She raised her hand to press to the side of her neck right under her ear. She didn't feel any cut or any incision point. Tempest couldn't figure out how they managed to get the device into her, but she was grateful there wasn't any pain. She'd just have to get used to the vibrating.
"Where am I?" Tempest looked around the room. It wasn't the same room she had woken up in before, but the decoration clearly was the same.
"You are in the medical bay."
Tempest fought hard not to roll her eyes. The woman took everything literally.
"No, I mean where am I? I can assume that I'm not still on earth?" Tempest leaned a little closer to the table as she waited for the explanation she was sure would blow her mind.
"Earth? I'm sorry that word isn't translating."
"What? How can it not translate? My planet. You know the world." Tempest snapped at the alien woman.
"Oh, hold on for a moment, if you please." Mexyn raised her hand and swiped her fingertips together, and a glowing image popped up into the air in front of her face. "Earth, you say?" Mexyn questioned.
"Yes." Tempest took a step around the table, trying to get closer to the image so she could see what it was. The more she observed it, the more it reminded her of a tablet, just without the casing.
Mexyn swiped at the air, and planet after planet popped up on the quasi-screen.
She moved quickly, and Tempest fought to keep up with all the planets that appeared. When she was in school, she'd only been taught about 8 planets. Mexyn had already swiped through at least twenty.
Tempest stared at the images, overwhelmed and still not truly believing what she was seeing.
"That one!" Tempest chirped as the familiar image of Earth popped up on Mexyn's screen.
Mexyn furrowed her brows as she zoomed in on the planet Tempest reacted to.
"Yes, I think…I mean, I guess there are other planets that could look similar to mine." Tempest moved in even closer, she was too interested in the image to realize that she was inching nearer to Mexyn.
Mexyn pulled the screen closer so Tempest was able to get a better look. Instead of paying attention to the planet on the screen Tempest found herself looking at the woman instead.
It was clear that Mexyn wasn't human. She was tall, nearly six-foot-five. That alone wouldn't take her out of the human category. She had breasts, two. Plump and firm but a little too low on her chest. It seemed like her neck and collar were about four inches longer than a normal human.
Her eyes looked like Tempest's, except the iris was larger.
Her nose didn't have the flaps of skin like the man she'd met before.
Of all the differences Tempest could see on the woman, it was the coloring of her skin. It was too pale, nearly milky with a purple sparkle undertone. Along Mexyn's hands were delicate-looking tattoos or scars, but they were amethyst-colored, and they sparkled under the light.
"Girl…? Is this your planet?" Mexyn asked again, clearly a little frustrated that Tempest hadn't answered. She must've asked before, but Tempest was too busy cataloging Mexyn's differences to hear her before.
"Oh, um…yes. It looks like it. Is there a way to zoom in more? Maybe I can see the landmasses?" It all sounded so technical.
"Absolutely." Mexyn smiled, her lips didn't part.
Tempest watched as the image of the planet Earth expanded, and Tempest was able to see the continents. Mexyn zoomed in more, and Tempest's breath caught in her throat as she saw a miniature 3D image of the Cristo Redentor, the large Christ statue with outstretched arms found in Brazil.
There was no doubt in Tempest's mind. What she was looking at was definitely Earth. It was right there but seemed so far away.
"Yes, that's it. That's home."
"Oh, lovely." Mexyn shook her head from side to side in the typical 'no' fashion, which confused Tempest.
"Why are you shaking your head? Do you not think my home is lovely?" Intense anger bubbled inside of Tempest. She went from being broken up with by her longtime boyfriend, trying to take her own life and now waking up in some alien location. That was the last straw.
"Enough of this bullshit. Take me home." Tempest bared her much less intimidating teeth, but instead of Mexyn reacting to the intimidation, she only cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brow further.
"Your emotional state indicates that you are upset? Why is that?"
"Because you are talking shit about my planet." The angry wind slowly seeped from Tempest's sails.
"Talking shit? I'm not familiar with this colloquialism." Mexyn seemed genuinely confused, and it further made Tempest feel bad for being angry.
"Talking shit means that you were saying bad things about my planet. We Earthlings are a proud people."
"Oh, I don't think I said anything bad."
"You shook your head no when you said that my planet was lovely, as if you didn't truly believe it"
"I did? Show me, please," Mexyn requested.
As if she were teaching a toddler, Tempest went on demonstrating what the gestures for yes and no were.
"Ah, I understand the confusion. You see, we don't have the same customs here. Right along with your people's gesture of smiling. I only tried to add it into our interaction because the texts indicated that you would be more comfortable if I did. I apologize that I got it wrong."
Tempest's heart squeezed, and she mentally berated herself for not being more tolerant.
"No, it's okay. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." Tempest reached forward and tried to touch Mexyn's arm, but she quickly moved away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend."
"It is of no offense; it's just we have different customs here on Thraqe."
Thraqe. That must be the planet she was on now. No matter how long Tempest stayed awake, she just couldn't believe this wasn't some type of nightmare.
Thraqe sounded like a fitting setting for a nightmare.
Mexyn continued as Tempest tried to will herself awake; after a few seconds of that she focused on what Mexyn was saying.
"Here in Thraqe to touch means that one is laying claim. Taking a mate. I am already mated and therefore cannot be touched."
"Truly? If I touch you, it would be considered what…? Cheating." Tempest questioned.
Mexyn tilted her head; Tempest recognized this little pause as Mexyn trying to translate what Tempest had said into her native language.
"Yes, cheating."
"Does that apply to both men and women?" Tempest asked.
"Ah, here on Thraqe we have several different genders. Not just men and women. Do you really only have two?" Mexyn leaned forward, and it seemed like they were just two women gossiping instead of whatever it is that they were doing now.
"That's difficult to explain." Tempest thought about the different gender equality rallies that she'd been a part of and instantly felt bad that she even questioned when Mexyn told her about there being more than two genders here.
"Ah, that is true. We have much more important things to discuss." Mexyn gave Tempest that awkward smile again.
This piqued Tempest's interest. What could be more important then what they were talking about now?
"What is that?" Tempest queried.
"We'll have to talk about your marriage."
The words vibrated in Tempest's ears but she was sure that she was hearing the wrong thing.
Did Mexyn say she was getting married?
"Marriage? You mean that I'm supposed to marry someone from this planet?" Tempest kept her voice low and even. Forcing herself to hear clearly what Mexyn had to say.
"That is the better of two options."
"What is the other?"
"The other is you are left out to the wilderness to fend for yourself." Mexyn gave her tight smile again as if that would ease Tempest's panic.
A panic that had already spread so wild inside of Tempest's body that it seemed to stop her heart.
"Oh, I see. So it's either get married or die?"
"Yes." Mexyn exclaimed as happily as she was able to.
"Yeah…that makes sense." Quickly, the light dimmed in Tempest's vision and once again she found herself falling backward into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.