“Hi, Willow, my name is Dr. Slade Ridley.”

How does he know my name? All I could do was stare at him. He’s tall, and fit, but not overly muscular. He has dark hair, and blue eyes. He’s young, around my age, he doesn’t really look old enough to be a doctor. The thing that I think draws me in the most though, is the vibe he puts off. Yes, he seems very authoritative, but there’s a kindness about him. Despite the fact that I’ve been kidnapped, and he’s about to do god knows what to me, everyone so far has been nice to me… well, all things considered anyway. I finally get up the nerve to speak.

“How do you know my name?”

“We all know everything about you, and I’ll explain in a moment. Why don’t you go ahead and hop up on the table here.”

“I… I don’t want to.”

He takes a deep breath and his eyes look sympathetic. Lane gives my arm a little squeeze, but not as in a warning, as in a reassuring way.

“Willow, I know you don’t want to, but honestly you don’t have much of a choice. I promise I’m not going to touch you or anything… yet. I want to explain everything to you, but it really would be best if you sat down. Nobody here is going to hurt you.”

I look up at Lane, “It’ll be ok.” Even though I know I probably shouldn’t, part of me trusts these two strangers, despite the fact that they just stole me from the life that I’ve always known. I start walking toward the table and Lane finally lets my arm go, but he follows me to the table, and stands on the other side from where Dr. Ridley is standing. The doctor comes and stands in front of me.

“Ok, Willow, I know you have a lot of questions. Let me try to explain everything first, and then if you have any more questions, you can ask them. I’m sure you’ve probably guessed that Lane here, works for the government, but I don’t. I know this is going to be very hard to comprehend, but I’m actually from another galaxy.”

“You mean to tell me you’re an alien?”

“I really hate that word, but yes, according to the people on your planet, I guess I am. However, if you came to my planet you’d be considered an alien. We are humans just like you, the only difference is we have higher intelligence, have a few special abilities, and come from somewhere else far away. Other than that, we are just like you. I know you probably don’t believe me, but you will eventually. Anyway, your government knows all about us, they just try to keep everything from it’s citizens, so there’s not a huge freak out, neither planet wants that, especially since we all get along just fine, and we even help each other out, which is why I’m here. You know how your government has different groups? Well, one of your groups works with us, they research us, they help us, we all work together, that’s the group that Lane here, and the other men you seen, work for. Our government is the same way, we have our own group that works with the people here. I’m part of that group. Now, as to why you’re here… As I said before, we do research on each other, but to do that we need a test subject. We let your people know, and they choose someone for us. They’ve chosen you.”

“What?!?! Why me?”

This time it was Lane who answered, “Your father…”

“My father is dead!”

“Yes, we know that… Your father actually had been working with us, undercover. He loved his job, and loved working with the other species.”

“He was a wonderful man. It hurt us so bad when we found out about his passing,” Doctor Ridley said.

“He knew eventually they would need another test subject. You were his pride and joy, and he wanted you to be part of this as soon as you were old enough, which for this, is the age of twenty-five. Before, he died he made us promise that you would be the one we chose when the time came. Before he died he kept notes on you to put in your chart, afterwards, that responsibility fell on me. I’ve been watching you, and I know you’d be perfect for this.”

“I can’t believe this!”

“He figured that would be your reaction, that’s why he left you this.”

A TV I didn’t notice before turned on. There was my dad. He left a video explaining the same thing they just did. I knew they had to be telling the truth then.

“What if I refuse?”

“Well, we hoped you would agree on your own, but honestly you don’t have a choice. Your dad signed you over to us.”

I looked at both men, and knew I didn’t really have a choice.

“Fine, what’s going to happen?”

Dr. Ridley answered this time, “Well, today we’re just going to examine you. I’m going to warn you though, it’s a very thorough exam. Some things will be embarrassing and uncomfortable, I’m sorry for that in advance, but I’ll do my best to help you through those parts.”

I just nodded my head in agreement.