September 17th

Quentin

I felt guilty. The incident with the shapeshifter was entirely my fault. If I wasn’t such an idiot, I would’ve seen through it. I should’ve known that there was no way a human woman could’ve survived without oxygen. There was no way she could’ve looked exactly like the woman in the videogame. She also shouldn’t have been fifty pounds while not looking underweight. I knew my infatuation was a result of her psionic powers, but I should’ve been able to reason that she wasn’t normal.

I tried to watch TV, but nothing overpowered the guilt. Come on, Quentin. It has been over two weeks since the incident. I shouldn’t feel this bad. But it is my fault. Because of me, everyone on this ship was on the brink of death.

As I flipped through the channels, I heard the door open to my TV unit. I turned to see Scarlett closing the door behind her. I looked away, too ashamed to face her. “I don’t know why you want to be near me. I almost got all of you killed,” I said as I stared at the wall.

She chuckled and sat down next to me. “Quentin, it’s not your fault. That monster used her psionic powers to make you obsessed with her. I’m not exactly blameless either. She turned me into a raging animal. I guess she turned me into what I am.” She sighed.

“You are not an animal. You’re a woman. You’re smart, kind, and brave. You even have nice bit of attitude. Don’t let your appearance put you down. Besides, the resemblance to a fox is pretty superficial. Sure, you’re covered in fur and have a similar muzzle, ears, and tail, but you’re also bipedal with a generally humanoid body plan,” I replied as I turned to face the coffee table.

“That’s one way to put it,” she said as she grabbed my head. I tried to break free, but her grip remained. She turned my head to face her, and I immediately stopped resisting. I could see a tear drop from her right eye and roll down her face. “Quentin, I want you to forgive yourself. Your self-loathing is tearing our crew apart. These last two weeks have been awful with you hiding out in your room. With Gruma out of it and Malgorth staying to himself, the only person I was able to talk to was Harry. He’s okay, but you’re far better.”

As she let go of my head, I maneuvered my body to face her comfortably. Once I was in position, I noticed something different about her. For some reason, her eyes popped out a bit more. Not in the sense that they were bulging, but that they were beautiful and filled with vigor. As a whole, her face was pretty, to the point that I allowed myself to take note of it. I don’t want to admit it, but it’s true. She’s exotically beautiful, yet with a touch of conventionality.

“I guess you’re right,” I replied as I examined her face a bit more. The more I checked, the more I mentally registered that the woman before me was less alien than at first glance. I decided it was time to admit it even if I wasn’t fully ready for anything further. I took a deep breath before admitting, “You know, you’re actually quite beautiful. Did you use some makeup?”

Her face beamed with joy at my statement. I noticed her tail wagging at what I said. She pointed to her eyes and said, “I did. I used some eyeliner and eyeshadow to make them stand out. And if you can see, I made my eyelashes fuller than before.” She blinked, showing off the longer lashes that she had. I have to admit, they’re pretty good.

“They look good on you. It is pretty odd that you decided to put on makeup today. What’s the occasion?” I replied as I looked at the TV. I was about to grab the remote when she took it away.

“I was going to do some karaoke. While you were self-loathing, I took the opportunity to practice singing. I want to show you how good I am at it,” she said as she got up and dusted herself off. “Just go down to the lounge. I’ll meet you there.” She walked back to her room, giving me a choice. Either go to the lounge and listen to her sing, or I could continue watching TV.

Ultimately, I felt it was only right to support my friend. I turned off the TV and walked down the lounge. I passed by Harry on the way there. He walked into the medical bay as his new routine was. He would check up on Gruma everyday since the incident. I did it a few times, but my guilt kept me from doing it more often.

The door to the lounge opened to reveal Malgorth playing a pool game with himself. While I felt like joining him, I knew that I had something important to do. I sat down at one of the chairs facing the stage.

After a few minutes of waiting, I heard the lounge door open. I turned to face the source and was blown away by how pretty Scarlett made herself look. Despite still being an anthropomorphic fox, she looked elegant and refined. She wore a long sky-blue dress that fell to her ankles. Her hair was immaculately brushed to look similar to a runway model. As she walked to the stage, she carried herself in a refined manner, with her hips swaying the perfect amount. It was feminine, but not seductive. It was one of the reminders that beneath her odd exterior, she was a high-class lady. As she walked, I could hear heels click against the floor. Since she seemed taller than me, I knew it was that she was wearing high heels.

She took a deep breath before announcing, “Howdy y’all. I’m going to sing a song that means a lot to me. Without further ado, here’s the song.” She then turned on the karaoke machine. The background music was a sad piano piece. I noticed a bit of the song, but I didn’t see her as someone into it.

She sang a depressing 2000s song that I remembered my older brother's first girlfriend kept listening to. Her voice was angelic as she went through the first verse. I noticed tears stream from her eyes as she continued singing. Her voice started cracking up, making me want to cry.

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Scarlett, what did they do to you? It’s obvious that you can relate to what you’re singing. “There’s just too much that time cannot erase,” she sang as her voice failed her. While she continued singing, I didn’t need to pay much attention to know what she was singing. I need to stop feeling self-pity. For as terrible as my life is, it’s nothing compared to others. This is making me realize how much she has to have gone through. Losing her human appearance is only the tip of the iceberg.

Once she finished with the song, she put the microphone up and started crying. Without thinking, I ran up to the stage and held my arms out. I didn’t know what I was expecting since hugging a friend was not something I did. But she did it for me. She dropped to her knees and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back, dropping to my knees as well so we would be eye-to-eye.

“Thank you,” she cried as she rested her head on my shoulder. We hugged in silence before she broke it by leaning back. Her makeup was running down her face as her eyes were bloodshot. It was clear to me that the song reopened old wounds, much like the braces did. She was a tough girl, but even the toughest exterior could hide old wounds. Wounds that never completely healed.

“Don’t mention it,” I replied as I wiped away the tears on her face. “How about you smile? I always love seeing it.” It was at that moment that I realized how odd my behavior was. Really smooth there, Quentin. If there was an outside observer, they’d believe I’m into her. I mean, I am, but it’s not exactly something to brag about. Since she isn’t human, I’m worried about what I’m into. “Anyways, why did you wear heels?” I asked as I picked myself up.

“Because they’re pretty. Besides it’s funny that they make me taller than you,” she said as she stood up. “So now you’re the shortest person here,” she said with a slight laugh.

I stood on the balls of my feet, elevating me to her boosted height. “Not anymore,” I joked. She smiled at me. It was starting to get uncomfortably close to a romantic moment. I needed to kill the moment in order to retain my normalcy. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need check up on Gruma!” I shouted before running out of the room. Scarlett grumbled in frustration as I left, which made me feel guilty again. This is for our own good.

I ran into the medical bay and saw Gruma with her replaced bandages. She waved at me and said, “Thank you for checking on me. I was concerned that you were angry at me.”

“More like angry with myself than you,” I said as I still felt a tinge of guilt for what happened to her. It’s my fault she is as injured as she is. “Anyways, how are you doing? I heard that the internal wounds have finally finished healing.”

“I guess so. I can’t see bones or muscles anymore, so I assume it got better. It was a nasty cut, but I pulled through,” she replied as she poked her bandages, wincing every so often. It was clear that the shapeshifter did a lot more damage than one would assume. Harry was only worried about severed arteries. However, the reports were harrowing when I first read them. Internal organ damage. It was only after a few days of intense surgery that the risk of mortality disappeared.

I picked up a loose hair of hers and pocketed it. I turned to face her and gave her a thumbs-up. “It’s good to see that you’re pulling through. I can’t wait to begin training again with you.” She smiled as I turned away and walked towards another corner of the room.

When I reached the hidden corner, I pulled out the two strands I had. One was Gruma’s hair while another was Scarlett’s fur. I pulled out the DNA analyzer and plugged it into an outlet. As it turned on, I pulled a strand of my own hair out.

Once it finished booting up, the machine asked, “What would you like to do?”

“Could you please add the DNA from these strands into your database? I have a question I need answered,” I said as I placed my hair into the analyzer first.

“Affirmative.” The machine then analyzed my hair. It took a few minutes to process. Once done, it said, “Quentin Alexander Smith. Homo sapiens sapiens. What else would you like me to analyze?”

I pulled my hair out and placed Gruma’s hair into it. It went through the same analysis process. Once finished, it said, “Gruma. Homo taraxus altus. Anything else?” I guess that answers my question about our similarities. She was part of a species within the same genus as humans. It was analogous to Homo erectus versus Homo sapiens. Despite getting an answer, I felt like I now had more questions. Like how her ancestors ended up on a separate planet from modern humans.

The last strand was Scarlett’s fur. The analyzer went through the process, which was boring to watch. However, unlike with Gruma, the subject of my analysis walked up to me. “That’s where you went. What are you doing?” she asked as she watched the machine.

“I’m running a DNA analysis on your fur. With any luck, we can find out the proper scientific categorization to give you. Perhaps it’ll be a Vulpes sapiens,” I said as I watched the process.

“You know that would imply I’m more closely related to a dog than you, right? I’m not the most educated person, but my knowledge of taxonomy means I at least know that,” she replied as she held her hands in anticipation.

At the end of the longer than usual analysis, the machine gave a pleasant beep. It said, “Scarlett Rose Campbell. Homo sapiens vulpes. Anything else?” At the announcement of the taxonomical name, she cheered.

“Yes! I’m a human subspecies instead of a separate one entirely!” she shouted in joy as her tail wagged rapidly. “You know what that means?” she asked as she looked at me.

“You’re more closely related to me than Gruma is,” I replied as I had a feeling the conversation was going to get more personal.

“Yes, but something more important. It means I can become a mother in the future! I mean, if I’m unable to regain my humanity. That’s still more important,” she said as her tail continued to wag.

“Don’t you want to value your independence? You’re still young. You should focus on getting your college degree and finding a good job. Family is good, but you should hold off until you’re ready,” I replied.

She calmed down and looked me dead in the eyes. She softly said, “Quentin, I know. I’m just happy that a door I thought was closed on me turned out to be open. Why wouldn’t I be ecstatic?” She nodded at me before walking away.

I’m glad she’s happy. But something about the result that was confusing was how she was closer to me genetically than Gruma. I know the origin species was the same, but it was still odd. On another note, I also want to know what Malgorth’s genetics are like, but it was unlikely that I’d be able to get a sample. So for now, I’d have to settle with what I got. However, I did have a new idea.

Harry wants to regain biological body parts. Perhaps I could use DNA samples from him and gain access to a cloning machine to process those requests. It’s far beyond my level and in a different field, but I felt like it should be possible. Perhaps he could make himself into an ultimate lifeform. A perfect fusion of biological and mechanical. Immortal and invincible. A truly astounding concept, but one that opens several ethical decisions. Perhaps I should just focus on restoring his biological parts instead of grandiose displays of science.

Whatever the case, we needed to leave this sector soon. The Qarri are bound to show up at any moment and ruin our plans.