Tapioca
Joanie looks across the table at me like I’ve lost my
mind. Her bottom jaw hangs slack, and I can see where her back molars on the
bottom are missing, leaving me to wonder how I’d not noticed their absence
before.
“What? I don’t understand why you guys are even
trying. It’s just my opinion until we know what’s going on, where we’re going
to end up, that no one should be trying to get pregnant. Don’t look at me like
that! We’re on a fucking alien spaceship, for fuck’s sake!” I shove a spoonful
of the grey gruel that fills the bowl in front of me into my mouth. It’s not
bad, but it’s also not good. It’s got this weird, oily film that coats your
mouth and everything else it touches, and it has little squishy-like balls similar
to tapioca. Gross! You get hungry enough, you’ll eat just about anything,
including whatever the hell it is these squid things give us to eat. But, I
can’t stand tapioca, so I pick and spit out the little blobs of disgustingness
to dispose of them in the closest possible receptacle as soon as I can.
Before we went our separate ways on Earth, my brother
called the aliens Squiddies. Part of me wishes I stayed back there with him,
and I wonder for a moment what he’s up to before I brush the thought aside. He
was always private in that scary, keep-to-yourself-psycho kind of way, but at
least I never had to go on the news and say, “He was the quiet type. Kept to
himself, really.” But he was right about the aliens, they do look like
squids—not that I’d call them Squiddies or even Space Squids to their faces.
They insist we call them friends; I don’t know that I could honestly call them
that, though.
“You’re serious, aren’t you, Betty?” Joanie’s lips
wrap around the spoon she holds, and then she slowly pulls it from her mouth, causing
my breath to hitch and pulse to quicken. “This is our life now. There’s no
going back. You saw what Earth had become. You couldn’t even see land or water
through the thick layer of black smog when we made it into orbit. It was so
much worse than the government made it seem. We were going to die there, and
people were still reproducing. How is this worse? They’re taking us to a new
home. We are meant to procreate. They wouldn’t have saved us if they wanted us
to die. Would they have?”
A heavy laugh sounds behind me, and the tall,
ginger-haired man it came from rounds the table, sliding in beside Joanie. “Or
we merely saw what they wanted us to see. What do you think, Bet? They got
beaks hiding in those tentacles?”
“That’s not nice, Travis! They saved us!” Joanie seems
to struggle to keep her voice at a low level.
“Well, Travy,” I sneer at him, “it would only make
sense. They do share pretty much all the other characteristics as the squids we
have on Earth.”
“They’re not squids. Just because they look . . .
weird, doesn’t mean we can’t trust them,” Joanie says under her breath and
glances around.
“Let’s not forget, they call themselves Decaphaliods.
Anyone who knows their shit, knows ‘deca’ for Decapodiformes the suborder of
cephalopods, where the ‘phal’ comes from. They knew they looked like the squids
from Earth, and they took the scientific name and class for those creatures and
smashed them together to make a fancy sounding name to call them. I’d guess,
they’d been studying us humans for some time . . . just waiting to make their
move. I’m with Bet, Joanie, I don’t trust them.”
“See, Joanie,” I say and bite back the bile caused by
what’s to follow, “as much as I hate Travy here, we’re on the same page. So,
are you sure you want to bring a child into this setting?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Bet baby. Don’t be changing my
honey’s mind. She wants a kid, I’m going to give it to her,” Travis says and
smirks.
“You’re only worried about getting laid, and now since
there’s no reason to have your nose in a book, you’ve got time to do so. It’s
just sad that, out of everybody, Joanie chose you to collect sperm from. It’ll
only be a matter of time before she comes crawling back to me, begging for a
real fuck.” Irritated, I shove my chair back and stand. I grab my bowl and take
it to the bin for dirty dishes. It’s still nearly full, but I’ve lost my
appetite—well, what appetite I had—so I toss it as it is into the bin and walk
to my quarters.
***
“I guess Travy’s rancid little swimmers stuck then,
huh?” I asked. It’s been nearly a month since we really talked to one another.
“Doc’s pretty sure, yeah, but apparently they weren’t
allowed to bring any medical equipment, so he said it could just be a bug.”
Joanie fiddles with a cloth in her hand she’s been using to wipe her mouth
with.
“I’d like to think it’s just a bug, and it is pretty
early for morning sickness, I would think. Ugh, Joanie,” I cringe, “how can you
let him touch you? Is having a kid so important to you that you’d risk
intercourse with a complete and utter asshole?”
“He’s not all that bad.” She takes my hand in hers. “I
didn’t mean to hurt you, Betty. You gotta believe me that I never, ever meant
to hurt you, but things change. The fact that we’re on a ship with beings not
from our planet and going to a completely different one to live better lives is
proof that things change. That’s how life is.”
I pull my hand away, fighting to control my anger.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Joanie. I mean, you’re the only reason I’m
here on this ship with these freaky fucking squid things, but you didn’t mean
to hurt me! You never even mentioned wanting kids the entire time we were
together. Four years and not a peep about it, so you can imagine my surprise
when two weeks after hopping aboard Star Ship Squiddie to be with you, you
leave me for the ginger prick to go try to have a kid.”
Joanie’s left hand flies to her mouth, and she stands
abruptly. Her eyes are glassy and shining with unshed tears, and I can see she
wants to say something, to respond in some way, but her cheeks are puffed with
what I can only assume is vomit. As she turns and runs, I see just how baggy
her clothes fit.
Maybe it is a bug,
I think to myself. If not, she should probably ask if losing so much weight
is safe for the fetus.
***
It’s been three weeks since I saw Joanie. I miss
seeing her. Travis is also been avoiding me. I look around the dining room,
noting that there are a lot fewer people than normal.
I turn in my chair, look at a man with sharp, hard
features and dark hair, and ask, “Where the hell is everyone?”
He grunts and clears his throat. “Lotta folks been
sick. I heard some have even died.” He rubs at his eye, then scratches his
chin. “Not sure if the last bit’s true. I haven’t really looked into it. Wonder
what they do with the bodies if it is true. I haven’t seen any.”
I need a second to take in what he’s said. I don’t
even respond before I jump up and rush toward the last room that I knew Joanie
was staying. Before I can reach the room, I run right into one of the things
that supposedly saved us from our dying planet.
“Please do slow down,” it says in it odd, even tone.
I’ve never figured out where their voices come from, whether they’re actually
speaking the word or projecting them directly into our brains. “There is no
need to move about so quickly. There is nowhere to go but here.”
I notice that it’s using one of its tentacle arms to
rub a grey substance over its body. The substance looks strangely like the
stuff they feed us, only without the little, squishy balls. I shudder at the
resemblance.
“Sorry. Just going to see a friend.” I maneuver around
the squid and continue on.
I make it to Travis’ door and pound on it with
everything I have in me. Several minutes pass by with a few more bashes from my
fist. I try the door, but it’s locked.
“Joanie! Are you in there? God damn it. Travis, where
are you guys at?” I hit the door three more times with no result, so I turn
around and begin walking away.
I hear a click behind me, and then the sound of a door
sliding open.
“Bet,” Travis says, his voice strangled and strained.
I swing around and face him. His clothes are baggy,
worse than Joanie’s were the last time I saw her. But it’s not just his
clothes, his skin is baggy too, and it has a sickly grey pallor.
“Sweet balls of Aphrodite, Travis. You look like shit,
but I’m actually glad to see you. Where’s Joanie? I need to know she’s okay.
There are rumors about people dying,” I say, hoping he only looks worse than he
is.
I watch as his cheeks pull in and then push away from
his teeth, and then he swallows. It’s like he’s working to moisten his mouth.
“Joanie’s—” he coughs a couple times and clears his throat, and I hold my
breath, waiting to hear the worst, “—Joanie’s in bed. She isn’t well. She’s
worse than I am.”
I push past him, nearly knocking him over. Something
in my panicked mind has enough decency to have me mutter, “Sorry.”
“Yeah, sure. No problem,” he says and coughs again.
“Come on in.”
I ignore him and rush to the side of the bed where
Joanie lies. Her skin is devoid of color, and its greyish hue makes her look
like a corpse. It also hangs loosely. In a matter of a few weeks, it’s as if
her muscle and fat have shriveled away to near nonexistence.
“What the fuck, Joanie? What the hell’s happened to
you?” I manage to say.
Her eyes open minutely, but she doesn’t say anything.
It’s only at that moment, I see how dry her lips are. She tries to smile, and
the fact that her teeth are no longer there is startlingly apparent.
A movement draws my attention her shoulder, but as I
focus, there’s nothing there. I put it off as a side effect of the moisture
filling my eyes. I hear a shuffle and look up to see Travis finally making it
over to the bed. He sits on the corner.
“She hasn’t said anything in days, and I haven’t been
able to get her to eat in a week,” he says, and then rubs at his chest with his
hand. He grabs a glass from the bedside table and drinks heavily.
“How did you let her get so bad?” I control myself
enough not to screech it at him.
“The doc said there’s nothing he can do, that he’s
never seen anything like what’s been going around. Said we just need to ride it
out and hope for the best.” He shakes his head.
I try to keep the tears from spilling and running down
my face. I wipe at them with my palm when I fail to keep them at bay. “Joanie,
you hang in there. You stay with me. I love you. Please, I can’t lose you like
this.”
I move the blanket to uncover her hand, and I grab
ahold of it with my own. I gasp when I feel the hand has no structure. The
fingers, hand, and forearm are pliable, bending and squishing like those
goo-filled stress balls. Before I can let go, I feel several small movements
under her skin. I jerk my hand away, and I stand, backing away.
“What the actual fuck, Travy? What’s wrong with her
hand? Her arm?” I yell.
“I don’t know.”
I go to speak again, but Joanie’s breaths pick up. Her
chest heaves as the air whistles and hisses as it leaves her body. I see where
it looks like several things squirm under the skin in her neck, and I scream.
The next thing I know, several of the alien squid
beings are sliding into the room. I have enough time to see Joanie still, her
labored breaths halting, before one of the beings grabs me, pulling me out of
the room. I feel a jab in my arm, and I’m plummeted into darkness.
***
I wake in a room, staring at a white ceiling and some
kind of tubing hanging from it. My arms are strapped to the table I’m lying on.
There’s a noise to my right, and I try to turn my head to look, but it’s
secured in place.
“Ah, finally awake,” someone says. “Maybe you can
clear something up for us? We have done test after test, and there is not any
sign of egg implantation within your body. You are obviously eating or else you
would have died of starvation long ago, so how is it there is not a single
trace of egg or larvae in your system?”
“Who are you? And what are you talking about?” I shout
and then struggle with my bindings. “Why the fuck am I tied down?”
“Just calm yourself,” the squid says as it comes into
view above me. “Have you been eating?”
Giving up, I answer the thing. “Yes, but I pick out
the tapioca. I couldn’t stand the shit on Earth. I sure as hell didn’t plan on
eating it here.”
“Tapioca? What is that?” the squid asks.
“The squishy balls in the gruel.” I clench my teeth
and suck in a raging breath as what it’s said clicks into place.
“Yes, that explains it.” It pauses, and once I’m about
to speak up, it says, “If we let you out of here, are you going to eat all of
the food provided to you?”
“Why the hell should I? It seems to me that a minute
ago you implied it has some kind of eggs in it that implant themselves in our
bodies.” My last memories resurface—Joanie’s shriveled body, her arm pliable
as if it didn’t have bones, the movement under her sagging skin. “Oh, my
god!” I gasp, fighting back the tears that force their way into my eyes. “Is
that what’s wrong with the sick people. They’re not sick, are they?”
“Sick? No. But, unfortunately, they do not survive the
process. A side effect we have not been able to fix,” the thing says as I watch
it rub a layer of that grey slime on its top half, and I shudder, thinking that
it probably is more than likely the same stuff they’ve been feeding us.
“Why did you take us away? Promise us a new home, a
new life?” I say through clenched teeth.
“Your world was dying with you along with it. We saw
your potential as incubators, but you must understand, not all of you will die.
Most are going to make it to a new home where they will procreate. Only the
finest specimens will be used for incubation. We want our offspring to have the
best start possible, so we will give them the best food we can find. You have
fallen in the first group of humans to continue the growth of our species. You
should be honored.”
“Honored?” I laugh. “Oh yeah, sure. Honored to have
been lied to, used, and . . . eaten from the inside out? Do I have that right?
Is that why her arm felt like a sand-filled bag? Bones and all, huh?”
“Yes, sadly it is not a very pleasurable experience.
Know that nothing goes to waste. Our young use everything within the body, only
breaking through the skin when everything has been used.” It acts like what
it’s said is the best news in the universe.
“Is that supposed to make me feel better about
essentially being eaten by maggots with tentacles? Because it doesn’t. I knew
you things were weird and disgusting, so I don’t know why I didn’t figure you
to be damned parasites.”
If it’s offended, I can’t tell. Hell, I’m not sure if
these things have emotions. Motion catches my eye, and I focus to the hose
thing that hangs above me. One of the Squid’s tentacles is wrapped around it
and pulling it down toward me. In my peripheral, I can see another of its tentacles
move and what I assume is the other end of the hose. It looks like the thing is
connecting it to itself.
“Wait! What are you doing?”
“If you cannot cooperate, if you insist on resisting,
then we must force feed you. We are running out of time, as we plan to move the
second group onto this ship, shortly. None of the first group can be present
when this happens. We do not want things to be more difficult than they need to
be,” it says, moving the hose closer to my face.
“I need to know something. Why, if your species was
just planning to use us to house your larvae, did you leave behind so many? Why
did you weed out those you deemed unworthy if you were just going to kill us?”
I ask, unsure of why exactly but wanting an answer, nevertheless.
“Ah, our young take on traits from their hosts. While
you may find our actions monstrous, we are merely trying to survive, so we are
doing what needs to be done. But traits such as urges to kill your own kind or
to molest little ones or rape those we find weak in our kind or to take
advantage of others to the point their lives are miserable . . . those are
traits we do not wish to pass on to our young. So, we left behind the humans
who held higher levels of what we felt were bad traits,” it answers me.
“I should’ve stayed with my brother,” I say.
“If it makes you feel better, he will die too. The planet
may heal, but the people left, they will be far more dangerous, wanting to feed
their cravings. Most may starve at some point. You humans were far too
dependent on corporations to provide you with food to buy. Very few of your kind
would know how to survive, needing to hunt and forage. Your brother may outlive
you in years, but, yes, he too will die as you would have, had you stayed.” I
see it slather on more of the grey substance on its long body . . . head . . .
I’m not even sure I care anymore.
Something drips on my face, next to my mouth. I cringe
and look at the hose dangling above me. A slick looking, oily drop of grey
dangles from the hose. Looking past it and toward where the hose meets the ceiling,
I see where the clear tubing is filling with the grey substance. Then a
tentacle settles on my chin, pulling my bottom jaw down and opening my mouth.
Another tentacle wraps around the hose.
“Now, this will be easier if you don’t fight it,” it
says as it feeds the tubing into my mouth and pushes it into my throat. “Just
let it in. Try to swallow. The goal is to get it down to your stomach. We want
the deposit to be direct.”
I gag, feeling the oily residue coat my throat, making
the tube slide just a little easier than if it were dry. I force myself not to
swallow, willing it not to go any further. I hoped to wake up from this
horrible nightmare that had become my life, but I knew it was all too real. I
feel the tears rolling from my eyes and down my cheek. My stomach clenches and
my throat tries to wretch to expel the invading tube that has triggered my gag
reflex, but it is to no avail.
The Squid quits pushing on the hose, and I can feel
that it has made it to its proper destination as my stomach begins to fill. It isn’t
just that my stomach was filling, I could feel movement. Small, tiny, quick
spurts of movement.
“You should not have to suffer long. And the process
will go much more quickly for you as you are getting a direct infusion of freshly
hatched young. You see, we have the ability to have live young or eggs. We laid
eggs to feed your kind, which was given in lower doses. So, it takes longer
that way. The eggs need to accumulate to a decent number before hatching, but
with you, I can fill you directly with as many as I can, and they can start to
consume you and grow immediately. It should only be a few of your planet’s
hours before you lose active consciousness. You will still be awake, but you will
not be aware. I believe your kind would refer to the term vegetable. Your body
will die within a day or two, which should fall right in the timeline we need
it to.”
I try not to listen to it. I try to ignore the tube
down my throat, the tears falling from my eyes, and the painful expansion within
my stomach. I didn’t know how painful it could be to fill your stomach beyond
its ability. I feel it stretching to accommodate. I try to scream as something
pops inside my body. I can see my abdomen being inflated upward and outward.
The thought that this thing, this Squid has to see
what’s going on, crosses my mind, but it doesn’t seem to realize. The pain
becomes unbearable. My vision goes black as I feel liquid run down to my breast
from my stomach and a searing pain shoots through me.
“Oh, it seems I miscalculated. Sorry about that. I’m afraid
we will have to close that up,” the Squid says.
Its voice sounds far away. The last thing I register
is the tube being pulled from my throat.
