Chapter 3

	The crew of Apollo 13 were as spread out as they could get inside the confines of the lunar lander.  They had thought about moving back into the command module and closing off the access tunnel between the two, but since the alien ship appeared to be taking the craft in command module first, they decided against it.  After all, they didn't want to be in the part of the ship to make contact with something solid, even if that part of the ship was more solid than the lunar lander.  They watched the massive craft slowly move and shift, and then the one side of the craft opened up and started moving towards them.
	"Jack?"
	"Yeah Jim?"
	"You really should have filed your taxes before we flew."
	Jack turned from the window to look at Jim, but Jim couldn't tell his expression with the visor down.  He didn't respond, instead turning back to the window.  So much for trying to lighten the mood.  As their ship entered the opening in the alien craft, it became dark inside of the Aquarius as the sun was completely blocked from view.  As they expected to make contact with something inside the ship, they saw small mechanical arms connected to rolls of some material extend from the walls and gently wrap around the ship.  They felt a shudder, and suddenly there was gravity.  Fred nearly twisted his ankle as he fell from his position, and almost landed on Jack.  Jim smashed his knee into the steering column due to the sudden drag forward from where he was.  One small bump, and then motion stopped.  They heard a loud grinding noise, transmitted through the hull of their ship, as they saw the doors closing, sealing them inside.
	Fred said "Well, here we go."
	They sat tensely, waiting for something to happen.  It didn't take long.  They got another message from the alien.
	"And you're in folks.  Shouldn't take more than a few minutes to pressurize, I'll meet you there shortly."
	The walls of the Aquarius rippled.  They looked around in panic, about ready to call Houston for assistance, until Jack noticed the external sensors were reading increasing air pressure.  They were at 3PSI and rising at a gentle rate.  They sat, watching the pressure gauge rise until it reached 14.5 and held steady.  Slightly thinner than normal, but within breathable range, if the air was of the breathable variety.  They had no gauge to tell them that much, not on the outside of the ship.  Their suits though, they had a small readout to let them know if there was enough O2 in the air to breathe.  For that, they would need to exit the ship.  Light came on outside of their ship.  Before they could decide if they should exit the ship or call Houston first, they heard their alien host over the radio again.
	"If you're still alive in there Apollo 13, congratulations, you made it.  It's safe to come out now."
	A quick look at each other, and Jim spoke.  "She hasn't killed us yet, so let's go say hello."
	Fred opened the small door that they were supposed to use to exit the lander on the moon, and they pulled themselves out into a large room, big enough to fit three houses.  The entire room looked to be made out of metal, with very little in the way of painted markings or other materials.  It was mostly empty and plain, with the exception of their ship, a pile of rocks in the corner furthest from the massive doors they had flown by and closest to the small hatch on the wall that mostly lead deeper into the ship.  Their staring in wonderment at the alien yet disappointingly plain surroundings was cut short as the hatch slid aside, and they got their first look at the alien.
	The crew of the Apollo 13 had spent some time thinking about what the alien looked like.  They hadn't discussed it, but they all had thoughts of little green men, and bizarre things like The Blob.  They felt they were more or less prepared for just about anything they encountered.  The reality was so bizarre and unexpected, they could do little more than stare.
	It was a deer.  That wasn't entirely correct, it was some odd mishmash of a deer in a humanoid figure.  It walked upright, and it had arms instead of forelegs.  There were small nubs of antlers located on the head, which was undeniably a deer, though the head shape was all wrong for a deer.  Instead of being long muzzled, the head seemed somewhat rounder, with a far shorter muzzle.  The area around the mouth was black furred, with a white circle of fur going around the cheeks and throat, blending into the light tan fur that covered just about everything else.  The light tan fur on her arms turned to black as it reached her hands, giving the look of wearing gloves.  There were small spots of black mixed into the light tan color on her arms and thighs, and a patch of white fur ran across the width of her torso, starting at her neck and going down to...her panties.  The alien was wearing what appeared to be a white bra and panties, with some flower design artfully embroidered onto the front of the panties in red thread.  The non-descriptive brown bag she was carrying with her hanging from one hand seemed to be the least interesting thing about herself.
  	She climbed through the hatch, revealing a small light tan tail with a white underside, and approached the crew, stopping about six feet away.  Jim estimated her height to be around five feet and six or seven inches.
	"Is anyone hurt?"
	It took Jim a second or two to comprehend that she had just asked them a question.  He looked her up and down.  While she looked almost human with her torso, a look at her legs revealed the split hooves that were associated with deer.  She appeared to have no issues at all balancing on hooves that appeared a bit too small for her legs.  Was this really happening?  A quick glance at his suit's readout showed him the air had enough O2 to be considered breathable.  So far, so good.  Better answer.
	"No, we're fine."
	She stood there looking at him.  She looked over at Jack, then over to Fred, then back to him.
	"I see.  Is anyone dehydrated or malnourished?  I have food and water here."
	Her voice sounded a bit more hesitant than before.  Had they already made a mistake?  Fred spoke up.
	"No, we are alright."
	She seemed friendly, but seemed nervous about something.  Jim mentally slapped himself, perhaps the three aliens standing in her ship had something to do with that?  He just wasn't sure how to proceed, what to say, what to do.
	"I have pain killers here if anyone needs them."
	"No, thank you."
	If she was attempting to drug them, she didn't seem too bothered by them declining whatever she was offering.
	"Well, if anyone needs a place to rest, I have an unused room they could use."
	"We're fine, thank you."
	Things seemed to be going VERY well.  She had offered them just about everything short of her clothes, that had to be a good sign, right?  It seemed her offer of assistance was genuine.  Fears of winding up the subject of alien experimentation or as a meal were rapidly fading.  It seemed like humanities first contact with an alien species was going to be a happy story.  But she kept looking between them, something didn't seem right.
	"Ok, mind taking the helmets off folks?  This conversation is starting to creep me out, I'm not used to trying to talk to people I'm standing in front of but can't see."
	Fred and Jack were suddenly in his ear over radio.
	"Jim, should we..."
	"Uh, Jim, the alien wants..."
	It was the helmets.  That's what was bothering their host so much.  She was giving them an almost complete look at what her species looked like, and all she was getting was their suits.  Having relaxed a bit at the way things were going, it seemed like a reasonable request.  Of course, they still couldn't be certain the air was actually safe to breathe.  Jim keyed his mic.
	"Alright fellas, visors up.  Time for face to face."
	Jim and the other two slowly reached up, sudden movements were to be avoided.  They slid their sun-blocking visors up, letting their host see their faces.  The reaction was a bit different than what they were expecting.
	She froze.  Her eyes went wide, and the strap of the bag she was carrying fell out of her left hand.  Her right arm twitched a few times, then her shoulders jerked like a firecracker had gone off.  Her right arm shakily rose to point in their general direction, and she made an odd noise that sounded somehow inquisitive.
	"Eeeuuuhhhhhaaaa?"
	Jim thought to himself, they had made the incorrect choice.
	Her arm stopped shaking and sharply pointed at them, and she screamed.
	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
	Without even stopping to take a breath, she continued screaming as she ran to the hatch in the far wall and dived through.  They could hear her screaming as she moved further away, though they couldn't see where she was going.  She could move amazingly fast on those small hooves.  The scream had made him jump, and looking at his fellow crew, it had surprised Fred bad enough that he was now picking himself up off of the metal floor.  Suddenly, a very bad thought came to Jim.  He keyed his mic.
	"Everyone, get inside NOW."
	"What, the Aquarius?"
	"No, HER ship.  Get inside that hatch now!"
	"What?"
	"If she can pump atmosphere inside this room, she can pump it back out.  Move!"
	They ran across the room towards the still open hatch, feeling unsteady about the recent return of gravity.  After pulling themselves through the hatch, they found themselves in a narrow tunnel that appeared to continue onward for a few hundred feet, with curved ladders at intervals leading down to another tunnel.  There were long and very thin lights where the walls of the tunnel met up with the ceiling, making the tunnel comfortably lit.  Their screaming host was not around, and there didn't appear to be any other aliens around.  Was the alien alone?  To prevent their host from opening the cargo doors and opening up the tunnel into space, they pulled the hatch closed, and heard it shut with a reassuring "click".
	Jim immediately keyed his mic.
	"Houston, Aquarius."
	Jack and Fred were looking down the hallway, somewhat expecting their host to come back armed and hostile.  After 20 seconds with no reply, Jim attempted to contact Houston again.  30 seconds later, no reply.  On an alien ship, and they no longer had a way to call home.  Things had been going so well just a few minutes ago.  The prospect of "death by alien" suddenly seemed possible again.
	"I don't think Houston can hear us Jim.  The walls of this thing are metal, probably blocking the signal.  I bet we wouldn't even be able to speak to each other if we were in different rooms in here."
	Fred was right.  The walls of this ship were thick, there was no way Houston could hear them now.  They had to be careful not to get separated.  But before they did anything else, there was something important to deal with.
	"How's everyone's air doing?"
	His own suit said he had 10 minutes remaining.  Jack and Fred reported similar situations.  They had to see if the air they had around them could be safely breathed, or if the atmosphere was too alien to use.  Enough O2 wouldn't matter if the rest was chlorine gas.  The external sensors on the suits only reported if the air had enough O2 in it to breathe, it didn't say if the air was actually usable or not.  Which meant someone was going to have to test the air.  Which was a polite way of saying "Take off your helmet and see if you die."  Before Jim could ask for volunteers, Jack spoke up.
	"I'll test.  You guys got families expecting you back."
	Jim and Fred looked at him, faces grim.  Wasn't exactly a fair way to decide, but Jack had said it, not them.  So they nodded, and Jack took his helmet off.  He took very small inhales of air, expecting it to burn his sinuses like acid.  No pain, no bad feeling, a scent of...lilac?  He took a few deeper breaths as Jim and Fred watched.  He seemed somewhat confused, and looked around while sniffing the air.
	"How is it Jack?"
	"Lilac."
	"What?"
	"Smells like lilac in here.  Seems OK though.  Are my eyes getting bloodshot or anything?"
	Jim carefully examined Jack's face, looking for signs of poison or a lack of air.
	"You seem alright.  I'm down to six minutes of air left, and Freddo is probably in the same boat.  We should probably save as much of the suit's supply as possible, we might need it later."
	With that, Jim and Fred took off their helmets.  Jim wondered if the faint smell of lilac in the air was a drug.  Oddly enough, despite being mostly certain their alien host was female, it never occurred to any of them that they were smelling the scented soap she had used a few hours prior.  After standing around sniffing at the air for half a minute, they were satisfied the air was in fact safe, if smelling like lilac for some odd reason.  Fred felt himself shiver.
	"So Jim, now what?"
	Jim thought it over.
	"Well, we're on an alien spaceship.  We have less than 10 minutes worth of air in our suits each.  We have no food, water, and we can't contact Houston.  And I think we just terrified the shit out of the alien.  Rather than sit around waiting for it to come back, possibly with a weapon, I think we should look around and see what we can find."
	Jack and Fred agreed with his assessment of the situation, and they started walking down the narrow metal tunnel.