urine because the only major
purpose in doing so was to find out what they were made of and
their function in the body. These aliens have had enough test
humans to know these facts. As for sperm….well, these aliens didn’t
want humans of their own—they would just end up creating more
political issues for themselves.
The last fluid to be obtained would be
spinal fluid—doing this the old-fashioned way would most often
cause the unconscious patient to wake up in excruciating pain and
move about violently. Rather than let that happen, the operating
alien told a bystander to grab the sixth bottle to the right on a
nearby desk, which contained a powerful anesthetic. However, this
upcoming series of events didn’t go according to plan. Out of the
dozens of unmarked bottles sitting on the desk, only one was
anesthetic, and the alien grabbed the one next to it by mistake.
Super-intelligent species make mistakes, too. The bottle that was
taken contained a dilute solution of sodium hydroxide. The bottle
was passed to the operator, the sodium hydroxide was injected, and
Andrew woke up in as much pain as he would from the unhindered
spinal tap.
Andrew’s eyes opened wide, followed by
a loud scream and some surprised aliens. All of them proceeded to
hold him down, and they did it effectively, considering all five
did the job. Since the lye was injected into his spine, his back
felt like it was literally on fire. One of the aliens took some
diluted acid and poured it onto the punctured area, which
neutralized the reaction. Finally, Andrew was doused with water to
take care of any remaining lye and acid, while the alien that
picked the wrong bottle was sent out of the room, never to be seen
again. Andrew was fully conscious now, and he was trying to see
everything that was around him. Lying down with his back towards
the ceiling, he could only see the table he was on and the desk of
bottles beside him. His heart was racing, and if the aliens were
not still holding him down, he would not have stayed on the table. His back would
forever have a scar from this incident.
Moments later, a tall alien with black eyes
and dark muscles appeared before the table, and everyone stopped
what they were doing to give this visitor a salute. Andrew took
this chance to turn himself onto his back to see what they were
suddenly focused on. Andrew couldn’t hear what any of these aliens
were saying—especially since it was an alien language and Andrew
didn’t have a translator—but he could tell that this tall guy was
an important figure, perhaps the captain of the ship. The black
suit that it was wearing had a large, golden, intricate design
right in the center, and its hands were placed behind its back.
This alien looked even more intelligent and official from the way
it was standing. Unfortunately, at the same time, it didn’t look
like it was here to welcome Andrew as one of them, but more like
how a master would look at a slave.
Andrew heard the leader saying something to
one of the aliens, and the response that came from it uttered,
“English.” After that, the leader introduced itself to Andrew.
“Hello, Earthling. I am Commander Fall, and
you are our subject. We are part of a race known as the Selentors,
and—to save you from asking the most frequently asked question—we
have indeed been to your planet many times. Some of your species
captured a few of us, but we have captured more of you.”
“Why? What’s with all of this? Why are you
telling me this?” Andrew inquired.
“I don’t need to tell you anything. It’s
just a matter of courtesy. And also, simply because I can. Even so,
we mainly need you for anatomical research for humans and not much
else. If anything, we’ll keep you if you’re healthy.”
“And then?”
“I have no need to tell you.”
Sounds pretty ominous, thought Andrew. He
looked again at the aliens beside him and noticed that two of them
were lime green rather than gray. “I have a lot of
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