"Do not be alarmed," said Feyr. Zir voice echoed from some kind of hidden speakers in the walls. Maybe the walls themselves acted as speakers? Who knew. "I am turning on the surround display to give you battlefield awareness."

"Battle-what-now?" asked Jess.

Then we were surrounded by nothing. It was like we were floating in the sky. I could still feel the floor, but it and everything around us was suddenly transparent. And then? We shot straight up.

I took physics in my junior year of high school, and let me tell you it didn't teach me shit that was actually useful. We learned shit like how to calculate the pressure on a point in a vacuum. Like, pull back on a bow and calculate the arrow's velocity on release. That sort of bullshit. Who the fuck is using arrows? I'm not Legolas.

An actual useful physics problem would be: How the fuck is this spaceship going straight up so fast that we just passed clouds in about the time it took to blink.

And on top of that, how were we going so fast and yet I felt nothing? There was no sense of acceleration. We might as well have been standing still. Hell, the walls were just screens. Maybe the whole thing was a simulation. Maybe I was dreaming.

Except, Jess was there with me. She was kind of a centering element of the whole situation. If she was real, I was real. We were experiencing the weirdness together. That realization gave me a better hold on the situation. I hopped to her and wrapped her up in my arms.

"Trae!"

I smiled at her even though I felt crazy. My mind was going faster than the spaceship. Everything was wrong. I cupped my hand around the back of her neck. "You and me? We're together through this. We got this. As long as we got each other."

She was taken aback for a moment—just staring at me like I really was crazy. Then, she rolled her eyes and kissed me back. "I'm glad you're with me. Through this."

"Yeah," I mumbled, kissing her cheek. Running my hand through her hair, most of it fell away and floated to the floor. I brushed away a few loose strands, but my mind wasn't really on her hair. I just wanted another moment of peace with her.

"We have drawn the enemy ships," said Feyr. "I will attempt to lead them into space so that we avoid detection."

"Space? Hell," I muttered. Enemies. In space. What the hell was going on. Everything was happening all at once.

And then, I felt myself wondering if the alien could see us. Except, it didn't really feel right. Like, was I feeling this thought? Why wouldn't it be my thought. I glanced into Jess' eyes. In that moment, I felt a painfully strong embarrassment. Weirdly, my body chose that moment to start getting turned on. Me and Jess were holding each other pretty tight, so it wasn't that surprising.

Jess clucked her tongue and squeezed my hip. "Hey now, buddy. This probably isn't the best time."

I laughed. "Sorry, this is all... So much. And it's, you know, a lot of emotion. Stuff." I stepped away and glanced anywhere except at her body. I didn't really want to deal with hormones in such a weird situation.

"Hey, glad you still find me attractive—even if we do have the same haircut now."

Groaning, I couldn't help but look at her to shoot a sneering glare. "Whatever. I'd find you attractive no matter what." Of course, my mind really was going haywire as I looked at her. She seemed to be more gorgeous than ever. And... Were those abs? Like, chiseled abs? It was like she'd just gained an Olympian's figure.

I cleared my throat. Her body was not making it easy to concentrate. "Anyway. Uh. Maybe we should get dressed or whatever? Like dude said?" I glanced around for the closet Feyr had pointed out. With the ship being invisible, I thought it would be harder to spot, but something in my mind could still see the edges. It just took a bit of focus.

Jess cleared her own throat. It could've been my imagination, but her eyes seemed to linger on me for longer than some might call decent. "Uh. Yeah. Good idea."

Walking into the nearly-invisible room, it took a moment to figure out some of the latches. Then, with a few hand waves, some cabinets opened up and we found some jumpsuit-style clothing that was super thin and a shimmery blue.

"Neat!" Jess was all smiles. "We'll be sparkle buddies."

I laughed. "Sparkle Buddies, in Spaaace!"

"Please get dressed now. The enemy is catching up. Now that we are in space, my ship is not as maneuverable as theirs."

My good humor disappeared in a flash. "Space?" Looking outside, I realized that we were surrounded by darkness. Earth was floating off to the side. I gaped.

Something hit us, and the floor flew out from under me. I landed on my head, but fortunately the baldness made me bounce or something. I hardly felt the fall and was back on my feet without thinking about it. "The fuck!?"

Jess wriggled into her jumpsuit, and hell that was a great memory that was nowhere near as enjoyable in the moment. We were both panicked again, and her face showed that she was getting angry.

Slipping into my own jumpsuit, the clothing sealed itself together without any buttons or zippers or whatever. I just kinda pressed its seams together and it stuck.

Feyr spoke again, "Good. Unfortunately, I must continue to assist with the ship's flight paths if we are to survive. The two of you will have to jump across to the others. Gauging their craft models, your new strength should be more than adequate at puncturing their atmospheric integrity."

"Jump across!?" yelped Jess. She gritted her teeth and practically growled. "Look, fucko. We're humans! We can't just jump around the vacuum of space!"

"Actually," stated Feyr, "I did inform the both of you that we are of the same species now. Neither of you are human. Of course, those suits will protect you in the event that conversion processes are incomplete."

"Suits?" I asked, feeling bewildered. I don't think I'd ever been bewildered before. "These flimsy plastic bag clothes?"

"Yes," stated Feyr. Zie did not elaborate.

The ship suddenly shook for a second time, though it wasn't as dramatic as the first time. We'd been hit by something, but maybe it had been a glancing blow.

Feyr made a buzzing sound and zir voice almost changed from its carefully-spaced enunciation. "Please. I cannot dodge all of their weapons. We are lucky there are only two scouts this time."

"This time?" I asked. "Fuck." I glanced around for some kind of helmet. "Okay, okay! We'll get out there. Just. Tell us where we get a helmet!"

"You will not need one."

I looked up at the ceiling. Was that where the camera was? Were there cameras? "Are you sure? How do you know your gadget-thing does the right stuff to us? How do you kno—"

There was another hit, and this time it sent both of us sprawling. Jess tumbled across the room and hit a cabinet. I managed to control my roll and caught myself against the ship's outer wall.

"Okay!" yelled Jess. She gestured emphatically. "So how the fuck do we get out of here?"

"Walk through the walls!" grumbled Feyr. The buzzing-rattle of zir voice had definitely become strained and higher pitched.

"Walk through?" I breathed. I just kept feeling bewildered.

Jess and I shared a glance. She picked herself off the floor. Then, rolling her shoulders. She ran for the wall.

And popped right out to the other side.

"Just think of yourself doing the act," said Feyr. "And the ship will accept your command."

I gritted my teeth. "Fuck this. Fuck all of this." Taking a step back, I sucked in a long breath. I felt like I should be holding my breath.

Jess was outside, floating, spinning back to look for me. Shit, I needed to be out there with her.

I launched myself at the wall. There was a slight sound like "pip!" A moment later, I was flying through space.