A few weeks later, they found me guilty of treason, and my temporary sentences were to be executed or spend the rest of my life rotting in prison.
Days later, when I was given a third choice, I rejoiced and immediately agreed without hearing their plan. They ordered me to mate and return as a valuable resource to the nation.
If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to come back.
My family became a simple memory to me, something that washed away with time. Earth Federation had one plan, to test until they found a way to use my natural mating instinct to their advantage. They wanted me to breed the innocent, but I had no idea why.
Was I to replicate my species elsewhere? No. They didn’t care about using my kind as a weapon. There was another reason, but the truth was left unspoken.
I never found out why they programmed me to kill. Never found out why they trained me to fuck upon scent.
And once they were through with their torture, they put me in a spacecraft. Destination: Earth.
That’s when things got weird.
When I first landed, I tried to find another way out. But the hunters easily found me. They came up to my spacecraft and dragged me to the ground. I fought back, killing their bearded leader.
And then they killed me for retribution.
Even I can’t make sense of this, though I try every single day of my life. I thought that was the end of my existence, but I woke up again, headed for Earth. A complete replay.
And then I died. Again.
The laws of physics are different here. You can only enter. You can’t escape. At least, not through the sky.
But I keep trying.
And the citizenry, well, they’re not too keen on me. Some are easily fooled into worshiping aliens, but others are dead set on eradicating my breed.
Some of them must have been deprogrammed by Earth Federation. Infected and exploited, made to serve the nameless leaders of this planet. An entire population turned into slaves.
But the end goal is still unclear.
Knowing I was programmed to mate, I have waited for Ava for many moons. And now that she is here, I instill fear into her bones because I have no idea what either of us are capable of.
When I dream, I live out horrible nightmares. I see myself inside a glass box. Wires thread through my flesh, coiling around my bones and pulsating muscles. Ghosts of my past appear before my eyes, telling me to escape this cruel cycle of regeneration.
I wake up haunted. I pray the spirits will go away.
One might assume I have it all. After all, I can’t seem to die. I can do anything I want, but I can’t stop wondering why I keep living through these horrible moments.
I see devils, proud men that stand behind protective glass, testing me on a cellular level. Tweaking me to their liking.
They built me into something I was never supposed to become. They robbed me of a life of love and happiness. And now I must kill them all. I must take this woman to the outer edges of this world and show her the darkness that consumes my heart.
I must breed her and find a way out of this infected state.
Ava thinks this place is fake, but it’s more real than she knows. Elon – she mentioned his name multiple times. He must be that faceless entity which I dream of, a cloaked figure behind the tinkering scientists.
He was the man who stole my life from me. And she’s my ticket to finding him.
She’s been sitting inside the cage for hours, obedient enough to follow my rules. She knows she needs me. But more importantly, she knows the secrets that only Elon hides.
She has nowhere to run. She will be ready to learn my secrets soon enough.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about this place,” I say. “A lot that takes place outside of the fundamental structure.”
She rolls her shoulders back and stares into my eyes, tired. The poison has worked fast on her, but like all things evil, I stopped it from spreading to her heart. She should be thanking me.