The Great BluSie

Day 1:

After two hundred seventy days hopscotching through space I’ve crash landed on a distant planet.  My ship is destroyed beyond repair; indeed, I am lucky to be alive.  I lost communication with earth several days ago and even if I could speak with them it would take months to attempt my rescue.  I fear I am doomed.

Day 2:

I slept beside my wrecked ship and dreamed of home.  Of ballgames and running through rain-sodden streets and wind-bent trees.  There are no trees here from what I’ve seen.    Mountains rise in the distance, and upon entry I’d noted a lone blue sea a thousand miles from here.  I am rationing the last of my food supply and–I see something approaching in the distance, will write later—

Day 5:

I’ve been captured by an alien species.  What I observed had been a craft, zooming in and landing near my ship.  I drew my plasma gun on instinct but holstered it once I realized the folly in it.  I was alone and shipwrecked in a distant galaxy.  A group of female creatures emerged, human-like but with just a single, unblinking eye as their hairless heads’ only feature.  As they led me into their ship, I attempted to break the tension by joking of being turned into their sex slave, but they either didn’t find it funny or didn’t understand.  After a short flight they deposited me in a landscape of strange-looking crops and rounded domiciles.  I haven’t had the chance to write until now since they seized my logbook for inspection.  I do not think they have deciphered my language, but my thoughts may be another matter.  They appear to communicate telepathically.  I must be careful.

Day 9:

I’ve been quarantined.  I was strapped naked to a table and inspected at various times, during which the beings formed a strange fascination with my reproductive organs.  A crowd gathered, each of them eyeing my manhood at length.  No pun intended.  I have yet to see any males among them and am beginning to wonder if any exist here.

Day 10:

I’ve been visited by their leader and her assistant.  From what I gather, she leads some sort of illegal enterprise.  I’ve learned through observation that their group grows the strange crops I’ve seen.  It is all they eat, and I as well.  They’ve developed a camouflage system that makes the crops appear as barren land from above.  Several times already, during brief escorted walks between the buildings, I have seen ships flying high above, and watched my captors turn on an electric field of sorts.  Once the ships pass, the field is turned off.  This tells me that although I myself am a prisoner, they too must be ruled by, or wish to evade some higher authority.

Day 13:

During my interrogations I was ordered to disclose how humans procreate.  They insisted on a demonstration.  Owning further humiliation, I placed a mop-head atop a couch cushion and, drawing a woman’s face on the fabric, re-enacted coitus.  Since the beings appear to have no sex organs themselves, this demonstration appeared to provide them with boundless fascination.  Their leader, whom I have named ‘Tall One’ due to her extraordinary height, ordered me to parade naked on a stage before a group of them.  Her assistant, a striking version of their species, took notes as they conferred with one another.  I couldn’t help but feel judged as I never had before and pledged to never again do the same myself.  As I began the emasculating process of sauntering back and forth in nothing but a pair of heeled boots they’d given me for the process, I caught the assistant’s eye linger over my form.  Had I seen a rush of color come to her almost translucent cheeks before she turned away?  Afterward, they left me alone to dress.  I’ll write again later, after I have time to search for a possible escape, and to find the dignity that has been stripped of me.

Day 17:

I’ve discovered Tall One’s assistant must be her daughter.  I observed an interaction between the two that could not be mistaken for anything but familial.  The assistant had brought me breakfast, first keeping her eye averted from mine own, when she’d looked up to me suddenly, the unmistakable look of attraction swimming in her giant, blue iris.  I slipped and immediately recalled the deep blue sea I’d seen upon entry and decided right then to call her ‘BluSie.’  The most beautiful creature I’d ever seen, human or otherwise.  She must have read my thoughts, for she reddened and turned away from me.  Unknown to each of us, Tall One had been watching from the doorway.  As BluSie passed her, Tall One grabbed the collar of her simple, white robe.  A silent rebuke was followed by what appeared to be a maternal kiss to the forehead.  After they left, I lay back on my bed and wondered what our interaction had meant.

Day 47:

After my interaction with BluSie I was not permitted to write in my logbook until now.  Despite my lie that writing is vital for human survival, Tall One confiscated my book for 30 days and sent me to labor in the crop fields.  I took this as punishment for my interaction with her daughter.  The days were long and difficult, made worse by the fact I was forced to work completely naked save for my boots.  Great crowds of beings stared on in awe as I worked.  After several days of this, my newfound freedom from clothing became strangely normal, comfortable even.  I developed several patented moves that seemed to elicit gasps of wonder, chiefly the way I would thrust my hips in concert with the motions of my gardening implement and giving creative demonstrations of the act of urination.  If I can learn to gain their trust, perhaps I can find a way out of this godforsaken place.

Day 53:

I’ve become sick.  Worse than anything I’ve ever experienced back home.  Perhaps the alien atmosphere.  I have been bedridden for the past three days, unable to hold anything down.  My body feels not my own.  Twice, one of their doctors came to inspect me.  Tall One stood by, a look of indifference in her eye.  I must learn their telepathic language, and to block my own thoughts in order to survive.  But first, I must get better.  If I don’t and someone from earth should find this book, know that I tried my best to complete my original mission and never gave up hope.

Day 59:

BluSie came to see me last night.  Secretly, or so I presume.  She brought with her a warm compress and an elixir that reminded me of honey and almonds.  As I drank, I dared a look into that giant blue eye of hers.  She met my gaze, and I was surprised to hear her speak telepathically to me.  She told me I had contracted one of her planet’s most deadly viruses, and without this elixir I could die.  She said her mother, the leader of their outlaw group, had ordered my further study and to work as a slave until I could provide them no further service.  After this, I was to be disposed of.  Then she paused and admitted she’d discovered a strange emotion she had never felt before.   I reached for her delicate, three-fingered hand but she pulled it away before I could touch her.  Still, I felt an amazing warmth pass through me as we held one another’s gaze.  Was it the elixir, or something else?  We soon became aware of voices nearby, and I remembered to ask her if there was any way off this planet.  Their group possessed only a single ship, she said, used to ferry their black-market crops to other planets.  The ship remained guarded around the clock, and I no longer had my plasma gun or any feasible means of fighting them.  I was given my clothes back, but they alone would help me little.  As I watched BluSie’s shapely form hurry from the room, I felt something flutter in my stomach.  Dispelling the notion that it could be anything other than my lingering illness, I fell fast asleep.

Day 66:

I am mostly recovered.  I have BluSie to thank.  I’ve been returned to the fields to work, and when she passes by with her mother to inspect my work, we exchange fleeting glances.  Tall One  keeps a watchful eye on me, but I’ve learned to carefully guard my thoughts.  Occasionally, I ask the guards questions.  Where is the nearest star?  What is the governing force of their species like?  But I am most curious as to how they survive without males to repopulate their masses.  I have asked repeatedly how this is accomplished, since they possess no sex organs.  So far, they refuse to answer me.

Day 73:

A busy week.  Lots of work in the fields and even more experiments.  I was forced to explain to a group of intellectual types the human institutions of family and marriage.  Through this interaction I learned the males of their species went extinct many millennia ago, victims of unceasing wars and poor health habits.  They pointed out my male genitalia as being antiquated and unnecessary, much like Darwin’s tubercle, and explained that advanced species such as theirs evolved not only to have as few physical features as possible that could become lame or diseased, but also to communicate solely through thought exchange.  They reasoned that too often, bad things happened when beings spoke first without thinking.  I could hardly argue.  Perhaps this is how they also reproduce?

Day 77:

I’ve seen their ship.  It is much older and in poorer condition than mine had been, but from the accidental glance I was provided I judged it to be capable of making an intergalactic journey.  Fuel would be an obvious concern, but from experience I knew of many fueling stations throughout the galaxies.  Of greater concern would be slipping unseen out of my quarters and past the dozen armed guards around the building the ship is housed in.

Day 93:

BluSie came to me again last night.  She explained her mother was away on a shipment run and my guards would be safely distracted for the next few hours.  I wondered why she’d told me this, and noted the adornments she’d added to her robe since I’d last seen her.  We chatted at length, and I quickly found myself enjoying her company.  She is comparable to my age, although their species have twice the lifespan as humans.  Opening our minds to each other, we exchanged stories of our youth and described our favorite pastimes.  I learned she plays an instrument similar to the violin and creates blankets from the unused portion of the plants they grow.  I described earth and all its treasures.  Our eyes met several times, and we lingered in the depths of each other’s minds.  I took her hand in mine.  She looked at my hand and marveled, “it is quite large.”  Recalling an earthy phrase, I responded, “That’s what she said,” and chuckled to myself.  BluSie stared back at me, ignorant of its meaning.  I explained the joke in detail, after which she let out a shrill, telepathic laugh.  Instantly, her eye opened wide and her body shuddered violently.  Moaning, she collapsed into her chair, one hand held against her breast as if she had just exerted herself.  After composing herself, she stood and said she must leave immediately, that what had just occurred had been “unexpected and troubling.”  After she left, I could only shake my head.

Women.

Day 103:

Ten days and she finally came to me again.  At first, she wouldn’t speak of our last meeting, until her robe separated briefly, and I noticed her swelled belly.  Afraid, she looked into my eyes and swore me to secrecy.  “Of course,” I communicated.  And then she dropped the bomb.  Pregnant.  And the child mine.  “But how?” I asked, incredulous.  We’d only held hands and exchanged small talk.  Laughter, she explained.  Her species’ method of reproduction.  Evolution had removed it as a natural reaction.  Conducted by appointment only and strictly controlled, it greatly removed the need for birth control.  Just a nine-week gestation period.  BluSie explained that never before had she laughed and must have done so out of some distantly recalled instinct.  I scoffed at the ridiculous notion.  Angrily, she opened her robe and thrust my hand onto her belly.  Then I felt it and knew it to be true.  A faint kick from within.  Her unblinking eye, earnest and searching for something, anything that could make sense of this thing that had happened between us, locked onto mine.  I apologized and told her it would all be okay.  Finally, we lay together on my bed and embraced for the next hour while I caressed her belly, and then we made silent and motionless love to one another, our minds colliding in a mix of passion and confusion and bounding energy, and I knew afterward I loved her.

Day 110:

I cannot sleep.  Tall One suspects something.  I must escape this place before she discovers the truth.  If she does, I will never find home again.

Day 122:

I’ve devised an escape.  I will only have one chance.  Tomorrow, at the midday meal when the guards are at their most relaxed.  I’ve been careful to think false thoughts.  BluSie has agreed to come with me.  We are in love, or in whatever crazy place that exists between our different worlds.

Day 123:

Today is the day.  If I write again, we made it.  If not—well…

Day 123, later:

We’ve made it into the hangar unseen.  My God or hers smiles upon us for that fact alone.  Tall One is taking her afternoon nap, so now is the time.  BluSie distracted the guards while I started up the ship’s engines and sealed the hatches.  The instruments are foreign to me, but I think I can pilot her.  I have no choice but to succeed.

Day 123, airborne:

We blasted off, hovering for a moment above the fields I’d toiled in for so many days.  I thought we would crash and be killed.  But I steadied the ship, BluSie grasping my arm, her belly even larger now, and then we streaked higher, but not before we glanced down and saw Tall One and the others glaring skyward.  “Deuces!” I offered, and after explaining to BluSie what it meant, she repeated it in her clipped, dry tone.

Things to work on.

Day 151:

Earth again!  BluSie gave birth—twins, a boy and a girl.  They both resemble me, and already I can hear thoughts blooming in their minds.  I promised to let BluSie name them, and after she chose ‘He-said’ and ‘She-said’ I quickly regretted my decision.

Who said love was ever easy?