As amusing as it was to watch the small human ogle at the view, not daring to near the transparent wall, as if it thought it would fall straight through; Talax wanted to take this show on the road.

“Human,” she called softly to it, transfixed on the starry spectacle. “Human, are you alright?” It didn’t respond, and she was having a hard time reading its emotions from so far away from it.   

A bolt of worry struck her. Perhaps she had gone too far.  Just as she was getting ready to climb across the bed to scan the small creature huddled tightly against the wall, it spoke, without turning its gaze from the window. “I… I’ve… never seen the Milky Way from this far out before,” Robin said softly. Talax could sense the human beginning to unwind, the tension slowly leaving her mind. 

“Where have you taken me? Why are we here?” it demanded of her, finally looking away from the window and back to her. As their eyes met, Talax melted slightly, content to stare forever into the soul of her catch, but it seemed to have other ideas. It broke the connection, turning its gaze to the floor between them. 

“Oh, nowhere special,” Talax lied. “Though, I always find myself coming back here, simply to enjoy the beauty. Surely, human, you can sympathize?” She teased, walking slowly to the foot of the bed. Robin crawled back, but the wall behind her stopped her. 

“Would you like me to take you there?” She asked, adding after a moment, “This is just a minute sample of the grand beauty that we will share together.” It took the human a few moments to decide how to respond, every minute of which Talax spent drinking in the alien's intriguing physique.

"Do I have a choice?"

"As always, you are free to resist. Though, it would be much more pleasurable for the both of us if you would come willingly."  She sat up, looking between Talax and the window. 

"Fine, I'll go with you, but only because I'm short on alternatives. I still don't trust you, so I'm not buying that you just want to take me sightseeing," came Robin’s evasive reply, and Talax squealed in delight, swiftly taking the squirming human up in her arms. 

"You are going to love this,” Talax declared, carrying her from her quarters into the long hallway, turning right, making her way to the bridge. 

“I can walk, you know that, right?” Robin squeaked, struggling against her arms. 

“Out of the question,” she replied. She pulled up a surface map of the small moon, selected a landing site near the southern sea she had visited dozens of times before, and sent the coordinates to the flight computer.  She looked down at Robin, stroking a stray hair from her face with her finger. The human felt a strange comfort at the intimate contact, she sensed, which emboldened her. What a curious creature.

“As a result of your primitive craft’s lack of gravity, the muscles responsible for holding up your weight have atrophied. The pull you feel on my ship is only a thirteenth of that on your home planet, and look at the strain it’s putting on you,” she explained. She subtly flashed her bioluminescence, to make sure her argument got into the human’s head. “You can barely stand. You don’t mind if I carry you, do you? It’s for your own safety. No harm will come to you, there’s no need to be anxious,” she cooed, watching Robin eagerly, the girl swaying slightly, transfixed on the dimly pulsing lights within her.  Stars, she thought to herself, these ‘humans’ must be extraordinarily suggestible, she was barely trying to show her lights and this girl was staring, her eyes hooded and dazed, even drooling slightly.

Robin stammered slightly, not daring to take her eyes off Talax's chest. "No, uh, no that's fine, I don't mind, you can go ahead and carry me, I do feel kinda weak…" Talax lifted her gently in a bridal hold, carrying her from the bridge to the EVA hatch in the belly of the ship.  "I don't mean to tell you your business miss, uh, alien thing," the human started, earning a curious look from Talax. "But, I uhh… I think your ship is crashing." Glancing up through a porthole, she saw what the human was looking at. The ship was about halfway done with the auto-landing sequence, and flickering trails of white-hot plasma streaked across the window. To her credit, it did look like the ship was falling rapidly out of orbit.

Realizing that she had only moments to collect the necessary materials for their outing, Talax carried Robin along with her to the fabricator, silently cursing herself for not preparing earlier. She didn't know that she would have a date earlier, she figured.  "Believe me, Robin. The ship knows what to do. You are safe. Do you like Italian?" she inquired, entering the molecular makeup of a common Earth dish into the fabricator.

"W..what? Italian? Like Italian food?" Her question snapped the human out of her trance, and it looked quizzically up at her. "I guess, why? How do you know about that?" Talax opened the product compartment and removed a large, flat disk of hot edible material from the fabricator with one hand, quickly storing it in an airtight container before the human's olfactory organs could detect it. After fabricating a few other essential items, she packed everything into a large carrying case, to which the human commented sarcastically, “What’s all that? Your torture equipment?” 

“Provisions,” Talax corrected her. 

“What, are we going camping?” She joked.  

“Stars, you’re just full of good ideas, aren’t you? We could if you like, Robin. There’s nothing stopping us,” she teased back.

“Put me down,” she said coldly.

“As you wish. One moment, please.” Talax tucked the human under her right arm to free up her other hand as she approached the door.  unlocking the EVA hatch and pushing it open. A wide staircase unfolded from the base of the door to the grass below, and as Talax reached the bottom, she set down the ‘picnic basket’ as it was traditionally referred to in human culture. Taking the human firmly in both hands, she lightly set the creature down on its feet, supporting it as it tried weakly to stand on the soft earth.

Her legs wobbled at first, but soon Robin was standing on her own, testing the long-unused muscles by taking a few tentative steps.  "You must not strain yourself, human," Talax asserted, setting down the large square case. "There is no shame in asking for help." 

"I'm not straining, I feel fine. I can walk on my own," Robin shot back. "Let's just go do whatever it is you brought me here to do to me. Salt and eat me, or put a clutch of eggs in me, or whatever. Get it over with already," she continued apathetically, and Talax snickered.

"Why waste such a precious gift so, when it would last so much longer to savor slowly?" she argued, picking up the black case. From the corner of her eye, she saw the human's cheeks run a bright crimson. Cute, she thought. It took a distinct effort to stop her own bioluminesce from involuntarily intensifying. "Regardless, our destination is near. Follow me closely. Though there’s nowhere on this planet that I couldn’t find you if you got lost, I won't risk letting you hurt yourself."

"Um… where is it exactly that we're walking that you couldn't just fly us to?" The human asked, starting to take in the surroundings.

"It is an unremarkable location, it bears no special significance," Talax lied again. This was her favorite hideout spot in the universe. The remoteness of this solar system, and its apparent simplicity, drew away potential visitors, making it the perfect place to enjoy herself, her lovely company, and the serene seclusion. The human did not look convinced. 

"A site, not far from here. Just around the corner, really. Walk with me."

"You called it 'the garden'. What, is it my burial site? The only reasons I can think of that you might take me out to the middle of nowhere and make me walk somewhere is if you're more upset about your asteroid than you let on and you brought me here to cap me, or if you want to put your eggs in me or something."

Talax chortled, "My species doesn't lay eggs, and I have no reason to submerge you in soil. You certainly have some funny ideas about me, human," she teased.

She lied somewhat, but she figured that the creature was frightened enough already, and she could learn about her ovipositor at her own pace. She didn't want to overwhelm her. Yet.

"Well, I really have no clue what you are, or anything about you, so you'll have to forgive me for jumping to conclusions. You've captured my ship, kidnapped me, and mind controlled me, plus you're acting all weird," Robin replied. Talax  began walking towards the path carved in the purple mangroves, to see if she would follow. After a moment's hesitation, the creature gave in with a dramatic huff, following a short distance behind her.  The human's reasoning was sound, Talax relented. In her hurry, she realized that she had forgotten to introduce herself. 

"I am of the Palaxian species. We originate from a world similar to this one, in another galaxy. My name is Talax," she explained, and the human listened intently. Talax could hear her rapid, shallow breathing from behind her, and she slowed her pace, remembering that her companion was not nearly as swift. 

The trail passed over a small rivulet, before the thick bud-covered mangrove forest abruptly ended and gave way to a rocky, grassy plateau dotted with thick patches of multicolored flowers. Encircling the cliff, expanding all the way to the horizon, was a turquoise ocean, its waves slowly approaching the shore below. 

Her human gave a barely audible, but very cute, astonished "Oh wow," and Talax stood still as she boldly ran up to the edge, peering cautiously over. She could see the creature's eyes widen from where she stood, and she knew she had picked the right spot. She set the case down in a bed of soft yellow-white grass, and flicked the clasps open with two claws. As she removed the padded sheet, she heard the human's light footsteps approaching. "You took me to the beach?" she asked, peeking around Talax's arm to the case. "What's that, and why does it smell like pizza?" Talax grinned. This would be so much fun, she thought.  

_________________________________________________________  

As strange as the situation she found herself in was, Robin was content to play along for the moment. It didn't seem to want to hurt her, at least not yet, and more importantly, it might have brought her some food.

She needed that badly, she thought, but she tried not to show it. Her stomach loudly complaining betrayed her, and the tall alien made a scratchy squeaking sound in return, pulling what looked like a blanket from the black box.

"You must be exceptionally hungry, I haven't even taken it out and you can smell it from two meters away," the alien replied softly, in an amorous tone, closing the lid on the large case and shaking out the wide, thick red and white sheet.

Suddenly, it hit her. Robin knew what this was.  "Wait," she insisted softly, drawing an inquisitive head tilt from the tall alien. "Wait, just… I want to get this straight." As she spoke, the alien kneeled on the blanket and began to unload the contents of the case. Bottles, a pizza-sized, round, black case, and a small metallic cube.  "I tried to mine an asteroid which I didn't know that you apparently own, so in retaliation you boarded me, disabled and possibly destroyed my ship, and stole me away to some paradise planet to… take me on a picnic. Do I have that all right?" She asked, her head starting to spin. 

"Well…" came the evasive reply, "Alright, truthfully, I boarded you with every intention to... get to know the individual or group responsible. No matter who I had come across, I would not have harmed them. How lucky I am, then, to have come across a solitary, albeit very capable, member of a previously undiscovered species!" Talax, as it called itself, sat down in the middle of the blanket, and patted the spot next to it, silently instructing her to join it. It continued as Robin stayed her ground, not daring to look at the alien.

"I took you with me because you were in extreme danger. From self-inflicted starvation, dehydration, radiation from that rather unsafe and unpredictable power core of yours, and countless other threats. I have eliminated those threats, and now, you will flourish."

"You might not know this," Robin replied, trying to sound bold, "but humans don't do well in captivity. We don't make good pets, and we aren't good eating, and we're historically pretty nasty even to other species from our own planet…so if you really care about my well-being and your own, which you seem to do, you really might as well let me go."

She couldn't keep from looking up at the creature, to see how it was responding. Immediately, she knew that this was a mistake. The little flecks of light under the surface of Talax's soft, translucent indigo skin blinked in unison, slowly growing in intensity, forming beautiful swirls inside her body. It reminded her of a lava lamp. She could look at it forever, she thought.

She didn't know how long she stayed like that, practically drooling on the alien's lap, staring at its abdomen, but she got the sense that it was a while. Her mind drifted back to her as she heard the creature speak, and she shut her eyes hurriedly.  "I don't know, you appear to be enjoying yourself," Talax said, and Robin could tell that it was teasing her. 

"Talax," Robin insisted softly, and she was about to begin to argue that she wasn't, when she considered it for a moment. This place was undeniably beautiful, and the alien seemed genuine so far. It seemed to have nonviolent intentions, plus, it had made her a pizza.

She sighed softly, looking up to the blue sky, in which the gas giant and its emerald rings loomed.  "Is this a date?"

Talax did not hesitate to reply. "I… believe I have assembled all of the traditionally necessary components for that particular human activity. I'm glad my efforts paid off. Won't you sit, my dear companion?"

Robin didn't sit. Her head swirled. None of this made any sense. 

"Robin? Are you alright?" Talax said, but Robin barely heard her. She simply turned, facing away from the sappy, apparently romantic alien, and scanned the panoramic view of the shallow tropical ocean at the base of the rocky bluff on which she stood. A blush burned brightly across her face, but she had resolved not to show Talax that her charm was working.

"Human, come back please, I don't want you to fall off the edge," she insisted in that compelling, harmonic voice of hers, and for a moment, Robin found herself complying without thought. By the time she could gather enough willpower to stop herself, she had already kicked off her shoes and stepped onto the soft blanket.

"What if I refuse? This is no way to treat a prisoner, but I guess your society doesn't care about that all that much," Robin argued, and the creature started to reply, but she talked over it. "I'm a captive. You forced me to come here against my will. So if I refuse, then what? What's your plan? Mind control me until I break? Put me up in a zoo?"

"Tantalizing ideas," the large alien started, pushing itself up to its feet and standing to its full height, an intimidating ten or eleven feet, including the head frills. Talax slowly approached her. "But surely, by now you must realize that I mean you no harm. If you truly resist my presence, I will return you to where I acquired you."

This claim piqued Robin's interest. She wondered if this alien wasn't simply lonely. Possibly a solitary explorer, like herself.  Robin found herself instinctually backing slowly up to the edge of the bluff, and she glanced behind her. About 20 meters down the sharp cliff face, a long, narrow beach of spongy, yellow sand sat at the base, and small, gentle waves rolled across the shallow tidal pools.  She looked back to Talax, who had drawn even closer. It was terrifying how silently it moved, and how fast it could be. Supposing that she stood no chance fighting it, her only option seemed to be flight.

"Don't come an inch closer, I'll jump," she bluffed.

"You may if you like. The gravity here is so minute that you would barely feel the impact, and you'd likely only succeed in getting yourself all wet," Talax confidently asserted. Reluctantly, Robin had to assume that it was right. 

"Look, I don't want to be your pet, or whatever it is you want from me. You said you'd take me back, so… take me back," she asserted, trying to hide the hint of reluctance which threatened to show through her tone. She didn't know why, but she felt regret in her decision.  

Talax paused, its deep green eyes focused on the patch of rock and grass between the two of them. "Allow me to confirm this," it said, and before Robin could protest or even react, it had crossed the distance, and gently but firmly held the back of her head in its palm, its three large clawed digits pressing lightly on either side of her head and her temple. 

Robin felt a jolt through her body, like something of immense power had just plugged into her brain. She felt a shiver creep across her skin, and to her horror, she found that she could no longer move. Making matters worse, she got the distinct impression that somehow, someone else was in her head. Filtering through everything she had ever known and experienced, carefully observing every thought, everything she had to hide. 

Talax was reading her mind, and she couldn't do anything to stop her. Secretly, she didn't want to do anything to stop her. It would be so easy to simply be taken… …she closed her eyes, and tried to push that idea away, focusing instead on the sensation.

She could perceive a steady mental link between herself and the alien being holding her. Her own impulses felt muted; she could observe them, but couldn't act on them; she could only stand there, feeling as the alien's presence in her mind absorbed every little thing she was feeling. Like a silent observer. 

She realized that Talax was female. How did she suddenly know that, she wondered?

As if the thought was planted directly into the forefront of her mind, Robin realized with a flush of heat that Talax knew exactly how much she was tempted to comply, and to learn as much as she could about the cute, dorky alien. 

Cute, she thought again. Surely she didn't think she was cute? But there the thought was, as clear as day. It didn't feel like it had been injected, like the other one had. This feeling felt like it was her own. The moment the idea bubbled up, Robin knew that Talax had seen it. She could even vaguely feel the alien's bemused reaction over the telepathic connection. Suddenly, Talax was gone. Robin gasped lightly, and her eyes were finally allowed to open.

The alluring alien being was still there with her on that pleasant vista, holding her close to herself, her arms now placed securely around Robin's waist. She gazed up across the alien's chest to her face, her apprehension replaced with embarrassment, and her apparent excitement at the intrusion produced a slight charged tension between the two as they looked into the other, wordlessly, both smiling lightly. 

This wasn't fair, she thought; the damned alien just reached in and learned everything there was to know about her in a few seconds. She had even been cocky enough to implant the knowledge of what she had done into Robin's mind. Something called a direct telepathic transfer. 

Finally, she managed to break the silence. "Telepathy is cheating," she whined, earning a smug grin and a squeeze from her captor. 

"It seems… you haven't been perfectly honest, Robin, dear," Talax started, and Robin felt her cheeks run hot. 

"Listen, you can't just do that!" She exclaimed, and Talax made a deep, powerful chittering noise, carrying her a few long strides over to the picnic blanket and setting her down on her feet. 

The large alien turned around, fishing for something in the black, rectangular case. "Why not?" She asked with a sultry tone, "I know you like it."

Robin's knees wobbled slightly, and she chose to blame the low gravity. "Never mind that I like it, I didn't say you could do it!" She said, watching the alien. Her stomach growled dramatically. 

She wondered what she was looking for. Robin's mind ran wild with possibilities, some more depraved than others. As if in response, Talax paused shortly, and turned, looking knowingly at her. There was no way she could still tell what she was thinking about, right?

The alien's mouth turned up in a small smirk, and she produced a soft clear pouch from the case. She clasped it closed, setting it on the grass next to the edge of the blanket. 

"This is food for me. That," Talax motioned to the round, flat box on the blanket, "is food for you. The liquids, in these various containers, we may share. Please eat. I can feel your hunger." 

"I don't suppose that's all you… feel," Robin said, trying to speak around her words, only daring to hint at what she really meant. 

"Yes, your arousal is to be expected. A transfer of feelings is common after first telepathic contact," Talax said bluntly.

"Are you trying to tell me that you've only known about my species for a matter of hours, and you've got a crush on the first one you met?" Robin asked, and against her better judgment, after a long internal debate, she sat down beside the alien and opened the round box before her. 

It was a pizza, after all. It looked perfectly normal, and smelled even better. She hadn't had food this appealing since her last visit to the expensive dineries of the Sol system.

"Did you give me these feelings, or are they really mine?" She asked sincerely, and Talax seemed to take notice of the change in her demeanor, as she sat up, turning to face her. 

She solemnly lifted her extended, three fingered hand, and spoke. "I promise that I did not implant the subconscious affection you feel towards me, but I did observe it, even before I brought you here. My physiology allows me to sense other beings' emotive states, not from their language, but from their very conscience."

"That… makes no sense. Nothing like what you're describing exists," Robin protested, and the alien lowered her hand, extending it out to her.

"Telepathy is simply an adaptation my species evolved, it is a sense as important to me as touch, vision, and hearing. You are always welcome to another demonstration, dear," she teased, curling her fingers around Robin's waist and pulling her lightly across the blanket towards her lap. 

She felt like she should be protesting, but as soon as her hand brushed Talax's pillowy thigh, the thought dissolved. Thoughts don't just… disappear, Robin decided silently, but soon, that thought, too, was gone.