Marilyn was back at the hotel, enjoying a hot and relaxing shower. She wasn’t alone. Her former pets, Richard and Madelyn, were there with her, alternating between licking her ass and pussy clean. The memories of their previous sexual encounters, once removed to keep them safe, had been restored, and their devotion was stronger than ever. The extraterrestrial needed the escapade to forget all the tribulations she had gone through.

A month had gone by since the incident at the plant. The Rinnidyan threat was eradicated but the amount of evidence at the site meant that the place had to be vaporized. It was a devastating blow for the economy of the region but, all things considered, far better than the alternative. Councilwoman Wikktory had used the last of her political leverage to ensure that nothing led back to them or gave away their existence. There were still ongoing investigations but they were all to be silenced soon.

After confronting Natalia and her thralls, Marilyn had gone back into recovery mode and while her body was almost healed, the scars in her psyche were far more damaging. She still had memories of the failed assimilation attempt, and with those memories came horrible dreams late at night. She couldn’t block them out of her head no matter how much she tried. The only thing that seemed to ease the traumatic symptoms was sex - lots of it! - and so she returned to her old hedonistic ways, hoping to find a bit of solace to keep going. So far, things were working out but she had a feeling her frail happiness was going to be short-lived.

Marilyn moaned as the pair of mindfucked servants did wonders to her genital area. Richard’s pussy worshiping skills had increased since the last time, but Madelyn was the genuine star of the show. She knew what she liked and wasn’t afraid to go as deep as possible. When the time came to part for good, Marilyn was going to miss her.

As part of her recovery process, the extraterrestrial had assumed another guise. She was now a freckled redhead with long legs and curly toes. and a few extra details. One of them was a phoenix tattoo on her back with her flaming wings spread wide, a symbol of her physical and spiritual rebirth after almost losing her life to the parasite. Sometimes, the living projector glitched out and the tattoo appeared more translucent than the rest of her skin but never while in public. Total exposure was not something she was ready to deal with, and so she kept to herself most of the time, enjoying her prolonged vacations. She still had to deal with unwanted bureaucracy, though.

Most of it came from the remaining members of the Council who orbited the planet on an invisible cruiser. Her rogue actions, despite having been successful, were still the subject of an internal inquiry. Marilyn had defied orders and threatened their power while doing so. If her actions weren’t punished, other operatives could be tempted to follow her footsteps in the future, and that was unacceptable.

“They’re talking about exile,” Councilwoman Wikktory said to her, two weeks after she was attacked.

“Exile to where?” Marilyn asked.

“Somewhere far away from here where they’ll never hear from you again.”

“Oh? And here I thought I was their greatest asset on the planet.”

“You were until you started doing things they didn’t want you to do. Undermining their authority only made them look like fools.”

“It’s not my fault they were acting as such. After everything we’ve invested here, they were willing to let the planet burn to save their asses? Someone had to call them out. I don’t regret a single I’ve made.”

“Even with the scars you were left with?”

“They’re annoying, yes, but I still have a fucking consciousness. Political charades are not for me, and not overt acts of cowardice. Honestly, they were the ones that should be exiled, not me.”

“You shouldn’t say those things out loud, Marilyn.”

“Why? Because they might be monitoring this conversation? Fuck them! I’m not afraid and, besides, I’ve already made plans of my own.”

“And what plans are those?”

“I’m leaving of my accord. I’ve done everything I wanted to do here. It’s time for something new.”

“Is that so? And where are you going?”

“I’m not sure yet, but even I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want you to track me down. This is to be a clean break from everything, including your schemes. I’ll never forget your help, but let’s not pretend we’re friends, okay?”

“You’re right now, but we did make a good team, which is why I was hoping you’d change your mind about your departure.”

“What? Why? You just told me they want me gone, anyway, so... Let me do this on my own terms, and everyone will get to be happy in the end.”

“And if I told you there was another way?”

“What other way?”

“While the other members of the Council are trying to sweep this under the rug and use you as a scapegoat, there are some forces back home who aren’t too happy with what happened here.”

“Oh? And how did the info get out?”

“I think you know...”

“Hmm... What game are you playing this time, Wikktory?”

“It’s not a game, Marilyn, just the realization that perhaps we need better representatives. This Council has seen better days, so why not promote a change? We can use the backlash of this situation to our advantage.”

“Our advantage? What do I gain from your political maneuvers, Wikktory?”

“A seat in the new Council, of course. The power to change how we do things and take our research one step further. While many think of you as a rogue asset that needs to be removed from the equation, you have a lot of friends you don’t know yet. They want you to be their voice. You can become a queen in the system if you play the right moves.”

“Funny... the way you’re talking, you’re describing a pawn with better robes, not a queen. Whoever these people are, they only want my voice to serve their agenda. We were successful, yes, and we prevented a major catastrophe, but that doesn’t mean I want a place at the table. I don’t. I agree that the Council should face some consequences for how they handled this situation, and I’m all in favor of fresh blood, but I’m not it. I will not be used as a tool ever again.”

“So, your answer is no... That’s unfortunate.”

“It was always going to be no. Anyone expecting otherwise doesn’t know me. What made you think I would be okay with it?”

“I just thought you had more ambition, that’s all. I’d you rather run away and live the rest of your days somewhere off the grid, then that choice is yours to make. I won’t bring the subject again.”

“Good.”

Wikktory had kept her promise, and Marilyn was glad. She had wasted too much time with politics already and becoming a glorified PR spokesperson was the opposite of what drove her to action. She much preferred the fun of exploration and everything that came with it. Yes, it was time for a change. Somewhere beyond The Milky Way, was a new dream waiting for her.

Marilyn left the shower and cleaned herself. While her two human pets continued to play with each other in the bathroom, she lounged in bed, looking at old star maps to decide where to head off next. There were many places in the known universe she wanted to visit from the diamond waterfalls of Lanis 6 to the Rings of Hahrakeen where it was believed Life had begun millions of years ago. She would need a ship with interstellar capabilities and enough supplies to survive the first jumps and then, after that, it was The Great Unknown, a thought that was liberating and terrifying. She would never forget Earth and everything she had experienced there, though. How could she?

Marilyn examined the maps for over an hour. Eventually, her servants got tired and fell asleep in each other’s arms and she too felt sleep coming for her. As she lay there, somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, she thought of the Rinnidyans and what they had tried to do. Despite there being no evidence of any more parasitic clusters around the world, it was possible they were still there, plotting another attempt at takeover. They were as persistent as insidious, so the planet wasn’t entirely safe. What would happen if they launched another attack and there was no one there to stop them. Didn’t the humans deserve at least a chance to defend themselves?

“Maybe I’ll give them just that,” she mused, thinking of all the ways she could share classified information about other alien species before leaving the blue planet for good. That could be her parting gift, a way to thank humans for everything she had lived while hiding among them. Things would have to be done in utmost secrecy, of course, but it would be worth it

Marilyn fell asleep with all these thoughts in her mind. This time, she didn’t dream of the Rinnidyans and their green tendrils of death coming to claim her, but of something else: an unsuspecting threat that was even closer than she thought. This threat could change everything and not in a good day, jeopardizing her plans of a clean break from all the madness she had been through. She couldn’t tell what it was but felt it deep inside, chewing and gnawing, and waiting for the right moment to strike. Perhaps her moment of peace was nothing more than an illusion.

* * *

She was right. Three floors below her, occupying one of the smallest bedrooms in the hotel, a man and a woman, both of average height and with no distinctive facial features that would allowed them to be recognized in a crowd, sat with their backs turned to one another, while surrounded by surveillance equipment. He had his eyes fixed on a blinking screen monitoring security camera footage while she was listening  to encrypted communications and taking notes on a piece of paper with an old ballpoint pen. They were both experts at concealing their emotions, but that was almost impossible considering what was happening around them. History was in the making.

“This is real, isn’t it?” he asked, a child-like curiosity hiding behind his pale blue eyes.

“Yes, it is,” she replied, removing the headphones to better understand him. “We should contact General Murphy right away to let him what we found out.”

“He’s not going to be happy to be disturbed at this hour.”

“Happy or not, he’ll still want to hear this. Make the call.”

“I believe it’s your turn.”

“Are we going to discuss trivial things like that right now? Make the call, and if you’re too scared to talk to the General yourself, I’ll do it, don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

He did as asked, bouncing the call’s signal across a million different cell towers to make sure it was untraceable. After traveling through all the continents, the signal reached a farm in Montana where a man in his late sixties who had seen enough action in his life to fill an entire encyclopedia, answered the call with a low and menacing voice. He was sitting on a rugged sofa, watching a football game when he asked,

“What’s so important to interrupt my leisure time?”

“Forgive me, General, but this is too important to wait. We have confirmation,” the enigmatic woman replied.

“Come again? What did you discover?”

“The identity of the alien operative in Nassau. The security footage from the nightclub doesn’t lie and neither do these recordings. You were right, Sir. What happened here with the water treatment facility was not an accident.”

“Just like I’ve been saying all along...” the older man ground his teeth. “And you’re sure your assessment is correct?”

“There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever but if we’re going to act on this, we better do it a.s.a.p. The data suggests the operative is planning on leaving the planet.”

“Send me everything you’ve got so I can arrange a team to capture the asset, then. Don’t try to engage this creature on your own.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Sir. I’m sending you a copy of the footage and all the linguistic data we’ve been able to parse so far. Our preliminary report is included as well.”

“Excellent work. I’ll take this information to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the meantime, continue your surveillance and keep me apprised of any significant developments.”

“We can arrange for a bug to be placed inside her bedroom, if you’d like. That would give us even more intel before the team is assembled and dispatched.”

“That won’t be necessary. Keep your distance from the subject to avoid any last-minute surprises. We want this creature to be unaware of our presence, and therefore with no reason to fear us when we make our move. You are to report every two hours via our dedicated website from now on. Synchronize your watches and let’s do this! The fate of our world may rest in this operation.”

“Understood, Sir. We’ll be waiting for further instructions.”

The call went dead and the man sitting next to her smiled and said,

“That went well, but God, how I hate that man!”

“I don’t think he likes you that much either, but now we’ve got a plan. You’re in charge of the first report.”

“I can do that.”

* * *

Back in her bedroom, Marilyn continued to sleep, In her mind’s eye, she already saw herself far away from everything, free to live the way she wanted for once in her life. It wasn’t much to ask and she would use every moment available to her to escape the cycle of control she had helped create.

Little did she know that the very people she had fought so hard to protect this time around saw her not as a savior but an undeniable threat and they wouldn’t rest until she was in their custody, being poked and prodded in a secret base somewhere. 

Yes, a change was coming but not the best for everyone involved in it. An animal caught in a trap is more dangerous than ever and she would never accept a human cage. If the worst came to pass, there would be no mercy, only pure and unadulterated revenge against all who harmed her. That would be terrible but, oh so much fun!

The End