Mandy and the Tentacle Monster (Urf Oomons #1)
Mandy and the Tentacle Monster: Chapter 18

I drift awake in increments.

I’m aware that I’m asleep, that I’m waking up, but I decide not to. I snuggle under my covers and go back to sleep.

I’m thirsty, dreadfully thirsty, but that can wait. I go back to sleep.

I have to pee, really, really urgently. I jerk myself awake. Lurching out of my bed, I notice I’m naked and grab a length of fabric to wrap around my body, taking stock of my sore muscles. Suddenly I remember why my muscles are so deliciously sore. And I have a vivid memory of Seven holding me down and ravishing me not once, but five times. It is like a pleasurable aftershock, this memory.

I shake it off and start wandering around the ship. First using the toilet, then showering in the foam/laser shower. I’ve figured out that the foam doesn’t have any taste at all. And if I put some on my teeth during the foam part of the shower they’ll be clean by the end of the laser part of the shower. It’s pretty darn neat and doesn’t feel weird at all anymore.

Finding the dining room empty, I make myself an electrolyte drink. It’s like a melon/cucumber flavored Gatorade, but the taste is more subtle. It’s refreshing and exactly what I needed.

Now that all my immediate needs are met, I’m left to wonder: where are the guys? Usually one or all them are in the dining hall when I’m here. It could be that I’ve gotten up later than usual? Or, they could all be in the storage bay or the shuttle bay doing some work thing. I know that whenever they negotiate a trade, one of them will meet the other party, but the other two will stay aboard.

I shrug this off. It’s weird, but I’m sure I’ll bump into them later. I wonder how Seven is going to act around me now. Are we a couple now? Is he embarrassed and avoiding me? I’d like to have a conversation with him about it.

And what will Lu and Ken think?

I get my kit and set myself up in a corridor with blank walls and start planning my next mural. I’ll do another pin-up theme, but this time not a beach or ocean scene. I’ve done a lot of those lately because I know the guys are fascinated by them. But I should do something different today. I think maybe a fairy tale, but not Disney. I could do a pin-up red riding hood being stalked by a wolf? I’ve seen something like that before, I’m sure, but I’ll go ahead and do my own version.

I get started, then work on it for hours. I lose track of time. The moment I get done sketching things out, I’m so excited about the whole idea that I get to work right away. by the time I start to feel hungry and realize that it must be well past lunchtime, I’m about a third of the way done.

And I still haven’t seen the guys. Ken would usually come to get me if I don’t take a break for lunch.

First I clean up my work area and then I decide to make a search for it. I check the dining room, but they aren’t there. The shuttle bay, the storage bay, then the med bay. No, no, no. I start going down each corridor and opening each door I come to and they aren’t anywhere. I go back to the shuttle bay and count, all three shuttles are present as well as the auto-drones that Baht had sent. If they have left, they didn’t take one of their shuttles.

“Guys, if you’re playing some kind of game, it’s not funny!” I yell. Nothing. I try walking around and yelling and that doesn’t do anything.

Something has happened to the guys. They wouldn’t leave me here by myself. What could cause them to disappear like this?

I go to eat a late lunch/early dinner. I think on this situation. Not only are the guys gone, but I have no idea where I am. Is the ship docked somewhere? Floating through space? Traveling through folded space?

I have no idea. And I have no idea how to open the shuttle bay door. Or navigate this ship. Or even communicate with the ship in any way. Ken told me that they command the ship mentally. Using their implants they’re able to will the ship to do things and it follows their mental commands. I should have asked for an implant. But I don’t think I would have been able to get one anyway because their alien anesthesia doesn’t work on humans.

I’m stuck. And alone. There’s nothing for me to do about it. At least I have an endless supply of noodles and drinks. I’m not going to run out of oxygen.

Maybe the guys will come back.

I give up hoping for that after twenty days of wandering around on this ship. Going to sleep. Waking up. Eating and drinking. Going back to sleep. I try to paint, but everything sucks. I have no energy or creative impulse because I’m trapped here alone and pretty much doomed.

By day 43, I’m staying in my bed all day every day.

On day 61, I realize I haven’t had my period since before the guys left. It could be that I’m sick or malnourished or something. Or I could be pregnant. Pregnant with some alien/human hybrid baby and alone. I can’t operate the med bay. The best I could do if I have a medical emergency is to climb into the regen tank. But the problem with that is that I couldn’t get myself back out.

This is overwhelming and terrifying. I freak the hell out for about a week.

Then, on day 70, I hear something. It’s a whirring sound in the shuttle bay.

I run down there and the door slides open to reveal….an auto-drone.

I start to tear up because for a minute there I was so sure that the guys were back. They had an excellent reason for having abandoned me and everything was going back to normal. But instead, it’s one of those stupid auto-drones from the creepy spider-guy.

I don’t even know how to open it, I realize.

But I don’t need to worry about that because it’s opening by itself.