Chapter One: Uncertain.

[jenga218]

"A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born."
          - Antoine de Saint-Expeury




In stories, the alien arrives when their ship crashes, or when they're beamed down to our planet with a teleportation device. There is usually a great deal of fanfare when this happens, too.



To us, her arrival was simple - a mere knock on the front door. We didn't know who she was, where she came from, or how she managed to end up on our front porch. Nor did we know, on that cold November morning, just how much that knock would change our lives.



She stood at the door, her long, dirtied robe falling to the ground, her puple skin sparkling in the light of the sun. For a long moment, I just stared at her. She had long pointed ears, a teeny tiny mouth, and such small, strange eyes like I have never seen.

It wasn't that I had never heard of aliens. Actually, they were becoming old news - abductions and resulting male pregnancies were almost accepted as a normal part of society. I knew of one man a few villages over who had a green-skinned child, for example. See, we knew of them, but until that moment they had never greatly affected my life, or even interested me. And yet, here she was, on our front door step.



"Can I help you?" I asked in my most professional voice, once I had finally gained my composure.



She prattled off a sentence or two in some unknown language. First quite calmly, but she was starting to get frantic towards the end. Those eyes, strange as they were, had a pleading look in them.



"Who's at the door, Jodie?" Jason called from the kitchen.

"I, um, I'm not sure-" I called back. Turning to the purple lady, I tried to settle her. "Please, I don't understand you. You really need to calm down."



Jason gasped. "Where did she come from?"

"I don't know. But she seems to be in trouble."



At that precise moment, she collapsed. I screamed. Jason scrambled to gather her in his arms.



"Don't just stand there like an idiot, Jodie!" he exclaimed. "Do something!"



Despite my frazzled nerves, I managed to help Jason get her into the living room and lay her on the sofa.

"Is she still alive, Jason?" I asked, nervously.

Jason shot me a look of disgust. "Don't be stupid, Jodie. She's still breathing. My guess is she just fainted."



"So she'll be okay?"

"I don't know, Jodie. She has a pulse," he said. "It's very faint, but her internal organs must be similar to our own, at least. I did read some reports on aliens a few months ago that said how remarkably similar they are to sims." He paused for a moment. "This is consistent with a mild fainting spell, probably due to stress, anxiety, or fear."



"We should take her to a hospital, Jason," I said, quietly.



For a long moment, there was no response. He just sat there, staring at her, his hand still on her wrist. I had never felt so distant from my twin brother as I felt in that moment.

"It's quickening," he said, aloud. Slowly, he moved away from her. "She's coming to."

"Oh, what should we do?" I gasped, moving closer to the sofa.



The deep blue eyes flickered open. A wave of emotions passed through them. First there was panic, then fear, then recollection, then abandonment, all within seconds. She started murmuring in a foreign tongue again, her words aimed at Jason.



"We don't understand you," He tried to tell her calmly. "Do you understand Simlish?"



She turned at his words, but said nothing. Slowly, she forced herself to sit up.



We have to take her to a hospital, or a police station, or something, Jason." I said, urgently.



"Why?" Jason asked.

I blinked.

"What will they do to her?"



"They might find another alien who speaks her language," I suggested. "We can't help her if we can't communicate with her. Maybe a real doctor who knows about aliens will be able to find out why she collapsed. Jason, you and I know zilch about aliens."



"Most of the aliens we see are hybrids, Jodie. They are part human. They don't know that much about their extra-terrestrial heritage. This one doesn't speak simlish. Hell, she doesn't speak any language I've ever heard. That is a good indication that she probably arrived from another planet and is a pure alien. Trust me, most of the scientists and researchers I've met would have a hay day turning her into a lab rat. I can't let that happen to her."



I was completely incredulous at what I was hearing. "Jason, ten minutes ago we were eating our breakfast and getting ready to go to work. We have never seen this girl in our life, and now you're saying we need to protect her from those who just might understand her?"



Getting back onto his knees, Jason turned to the small, frightened figure still lying on the sofa. Their eyes locked again, and for a brief moment, Jason seemed almost hypnotized.



"Jason?" I said, snapping him back into reality. He turned and looked at me, his eyes almost as sad and pleading as those of the purple girl next to him.



Warily, he got up from the floor. "Jodie, go to work," he said, "I'll stay here with her, maybe see what I can find out about purple aliens online and in my books. We'll decide what to do later this evening. She is not in any immediate danger here."



I sighed, knowing this plan was best. "When did you become so assertive?" I asked, smiling in spite of myself.



Jason grinned back, smugly. "When I had to," he replied.

***



By the time I arrived at the store that morning, the cold had turned to snow, and thin coat of white covered the ground.

Priya Ramaswami was already there and working on inventory. She greeted me in the same way every morning: with a giant grin and a cheerful "Good morning my friend!"

There were a lot of things I loved about Priya. She was my best friend, for one thing, and had been ever since she and her husband moved to Bluewater Village almost six years ago. For another, her cheerful smile and optimism, though never annoying as some people were, was always enough to put a smile on my face, regardless of how my morning had gone. That morning was no exception.



"Morning, Priya," I replied, grabbing a clipboard to join her. "How are you two doing this morning?"

"Oh, we are both very good, Jodie. But you are not well. Something is troubling you, dear."



I sighed. There was no hiding anything from Priya Ramaswami. "Yeah, I've just got a lot on my mind right now, that's all."



"Are things not going well with mister Jacquet?" She asked. Though she didn't look up from the clipboard, I still saw that mischievious glint in her eye.

"Oh, shut up!" I exclaimed, unable to keep the guilty grin off my face.

"I know he did not come in merely to buy another Marek yesterday."



I rolled my eyes. "We just had casual sex a couple of times, Priya. You know Gilbert Jacquet - he's had casual sex with half of the town's females. He's not exactly serious relationship material."

Priya nodded. "I will try not to judge, Jodie. But tell me, what is it that has you so preoccupied? I have never seen you mess up on an order so many times. Today is 14th, not the 16th. And we have two on the floor, and four total. Not the other way around."

"Drat!"

"And where is your brother? Was it not his day off three days ago?"

I sighed again. "We got an, erm, interesting delivery this morning. He's taking care of that. We'll manage without him."

"Jodie," Priya said sternly. "Do not withold information from me. I am your best friend."



Again, I hesitated. Was it wise to tell people about the alien? I chewed my lip thoughtfully, though I knew full well I could trust Priya with anything. "Well, this morning while we were getting ready for work, a purple alien girl rang our doorbell and fainted on our front step." I said, finally.



"I'm sorry, what?" Priya sputtered.

I simply nodded in reply.

"That," she began again, "is incredible."



"We don't know what to do with her. Jason is minding her, making sure she is safe and everything. He's going to try to do some research, and decide if it's safe to send her to a hospital or something."

"Why would it not be safe?"

"Scientists can do some pretty nasty things. They might get so excited about experimenting on her and learning about her that they would forget that, well, she's still a her. Sim or alien, she's still a person."



Priya frowned. "That is disgusting."

I merely nodded in agreement.



We stood quietly for a while, but I could see the cogs turning in Priya's mind. "Well," I said finally, "time to open up shop. Larson's Lighting isn't a ten-star business for nothing."

Priya didn't react. She really was deep in thought - so seldom was she this quiet around me.



I shook my head - a feeble attempt to clear my mind. While I would have loved to talk to Priya for hours, there was work to be done. At precisely 9:30 every morning, Larson's Lighting opened for the day.



I adore running my own business. I love being the boss, and I hate being bossed around myself. I love the sense of independence it gives me. I like having the reputation of being a local businesswoman with strengths and ideas of her own, and I like having the power and financial security to help people in need. People like Ginger Newson, or the alien girl who turned up on our doorstep. That is what motivated me, and continues to motivate me.



Jason joined me out of necessity more than anything. He wanted so desperately to go to med school, but when Mother and Dad died suddenly, with nearly no savings left to speak of, Jason agreed to join me in starting my own enterprise. We were still young and, as far as I was concerned, there was still time for him to go back to school later on if he wanted to. At that point, I owned our house as well as the shop, and we were financially stable, though there wasn't a whole lot extra to spend.

But every once in a while, Jason would get into such a rut about it, and I didn't know what to do for him. I knew he wasn't as happy as he could be, running the store with me. He'd rather be saving lives.



I suppose that's why I was so worried about what effect the materialization of this alien girl will have on him. It explained his oddly self-assertive behaviour that morning, in any case. I always told him he needed to stand up for himself more - and I was now realizing that he can do just that once placed in a situation where he knows what needs to be done, and actually wants to do it.



"You should talk to Sanjay," Priya told me when we had a bit of a lull in business. "Perhaps he can help you protect your purple friend."

I nodded slowly. So that was what Priya had been thinking about. And to be honest, it was a really good idea.

"Would he take on such a, erm, paranormal case?"



"Well, he's not terribly experienced yet, but I have confidence in him." Priya mused.

I laughed gently. "You're his wife, Priya. You're required to."



Still, if there was one thing I despised, it was uncertainty. Everything that surrounded the situation was uncertain, but if we had the correct tools to protect ourselves - and her - we could face it.

"All the same, it's worth looking into."

***


"Jason, I'm home!" I called out as soon as I stepped through the front door.

"Up here, Jodie," he called back, his voice coming from the mancave that was the second storey. I quickly threw off my winter coat and made my way upstairs.



I found him sitting at his computer, intently reading an open web page. I immediately noticed the alien girl was now peacefully asleep in Jason's bed.



"What have you learned, Jason?" I asked, pulling up a chair next to him.



"Well, for one thing, I don't think she's eaten in a while. She ate a bowl of cereal, an omelette, and drank three cans of orange juice. Then she threw up. I'm guessing the food where she comes from is different, or she ate so much at once, making her sick to her stomach. Either way, it was a shock to her system. But she's resting peacefully now."



I smiled to myself, glancing once again in her direction.

"What about the aliens in general?" I asked, pointing at the computer screen.

f

He shook his head, looking a little discouraged. "I learned quite a bit, actually. The race we know the most about is the Graslaxian race. They are the green-skinned ones who abduct humans to pollinate - and who are returned to our planet pregnant with alien children. It has evidently been an effort to save their advanced yet dwindling race from extinction on their own planet.

"Their race as a whole, although seemingly quite different from our own, is similar enough that the hybrids born to humans aren't very different from us. They have human traits and alien traits - most hybrids have a higher-than-average IQ, and a boosted immune system, yet can still safely consume human medicine and react as we would expect humans to react."



"So is this girl a Graslaxian?"

"I'm thinking not."



"Never has a Graslaxian been discovered with a skin colour other than green. Dark green and light green, yes, but all green. I'm pretty confident that she is a Vilotian, a different race about which little is known to sims. Only two other aliens have ever been discovered with her features, both of them male. One died days after he was discovered, and the other, as I expected, is residing at Clearwater Medical Research Institute, in the extra-terrestrial research division. I haven't found anything beyond that on him."



"Where is this Clearwater Institute?" I asked "I've never heard of it before."

"It's associated with Halsington University in Simmersby," Jason said. "I remember looking into going to Halsington for their medical program after highschool. It's only a three hour drive from here..." he trailed off. I knew exactly what he was thinking about.

We sat in silence for a long moment. Finally, I spoke.

"What do you want to do with her, Jason?"



He looked up at me pleadingly. "I-" he faltered. "I don't know. I want to keep her here. But I want there to be communication and understanding between us. I don't want to keep her here against her will - that just isn't fair to her. But at the same time, I don't know how they will treat her if she goes to Simmersby. Will they treat her as a person in Clearwater, or as a lab rat?"

I sighed. "It's an ethical and social issue, Jason. I've been giving it a lot of thought today. Hopefully that is something every scientist considers before conducting any experiements on living things."



The alien stirred in her sleep, capturing our attention for a brief moment. We sat in silence, the only sound being the whirring of the computer and the ticking of the clock.

"I told Priya about her today," I said, ending the silence.



Jason looked up abruptly, concern etched across his forehead. "Was that wise, Jodie? I mean, should we be telling people?"

"Jason, she's my best friend! Of course I told her!"



"What was her reaction?" he asked, after a moment's hesitation.

"She suggested we speak to Sanjay about it."

"We should get her an attorney?"



I nodded. "This is a social justice issue, Jason. If we can provide her with legal protection, either from Sanjay or a lawyer who specializes in social justice, she would have to understand and consent to any radical testing they do on her. Perhaps we could also help the alien who resides with the scientists."



"I suppose it's worth a shot," Jason murmured. "If anything, he'll know what's within our power to do. I'll send him an e-mail tonight."

***

And there you have it! I was so freaking excited to finally get this posted! Thank you SO MUCH for reading. :)

Aknowledgements, credits and other Author's notes are here.

Random trivia: When Beth suggested I build them a lighting store, I hadn't considered that it would be insanely bright and any pictures taken there would look really bizarre. Please forgive the extra light in those shots. It didn't help that Jodie is S1, either - in some pictures her face was simply GLOWING, not to mention so was everyone wearing white.