PEARL

Despite being underground, the air was dry and cool. The platform sunk, coming to a stop in front of two metal gates. The gates were as dark as iron; their bars twisted and bent to resemble vines or snakes.

I glanced above me, saying a quiet goodbye to the strange world above us.

Dumuzi's unruly white hair resembled spider webs across his torso. This amused me, but only for a little while; I was too worried about why we were here—to learn why the Enuki created mankind. I had asked for it, and had asked for him to teach me what he knew...

But I still couldn't shake the nerves. I had a feeling I had stepped into some major shit without realizing it, but wasn't that what being a journalist was all about? Pushing boundaries, wanting to learn no matter what?

This would determine if we were going to be together, so there were bigger stakes here.

"Your hair is a mess," I told him to keep from thinking dark thoughts.

A purple eye gazed down at me as he remained facing forward. "Perhaps you should brush it for me sometime."

I blushed a bright red, sucking in a sharp breath, remembering what he said about doing hair.

"Sure," I said too quickly. After all, I wouldn't mind the idea. I was all in for new experiences. Or maybe all in forstalling. "Quickie right in this odd elevator, then?"

He chuckled, but the tone was throaty, deep. "Pearl, you're making it very difficult for me to resist taking you right here in this dusty, ancient lift to complete the bond. It's delightfully tempting, but I fear my ancestors would revolt against such disrespect and may come raging out of their very graves to smite me."

With a grunt, the metal doors swung open. He went and I stayed behind, legs locked with shock. I was sure my eyes were huge. Concern was apparent on his sharp features suddenly. "Did my choice of words offend you?"

"Not really, no. It just occurred to me how important this is to all of you. Sacred places and all of that. I do not want to say the wrong thing and cause any problems."

He extended his hand. "I have a feeling by the end of the day it will be me apologizing to you. Do not worry, little human. Come along."

I walked forward and took it, frowning at what he said. Just what exactly did he mean?

He guided me into a large chamber decorated in various shades of tan and dark stone. Intricate carvings were embedded on their surface. They looked like pictures from various periods of time in his world, like snapshots of history, but too detailed to make out what was really happening.

A carving was pointed out by him and its meaning was explained. The carvings told the story of his people, their heroes, their battles, and their triumphs over creation. The rich detail and intense beauty of the artwork captivated me, but he kept the stories brief.

He kept walking and I followed him to a bigger chamber. "At last, we are here."

"This is it?" I stared at the majesty before me, chewing my lip.

I was going to apologize for my sweaty hand, but I had a feeling he wouldn't care. My nerves were incredibly worked up. He dropped my hand as I studied the space in more detail.

The floor was smooth, glossy, and black. What looked like fingers of gold veined through it, pulsing with light every so often. The room was dim, but not too dark.

I followed the spidering webs of gold up ahead, breaking our physical contact. A square room with four pillars on each corner dominated the space in front of me. There were no walls in the square room; only the same pillars and a silver, domed ceiling.

My feet carried me forward. Dumuzi watched me, his gaze a hot weight between my shoulder blades.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "How does it work? I thought you were going to take me to, like, a library."

It was a lot to take in.

"This is a memory safe. We store here all of our memories."

"How—?" I shook my head, sure I wouldn't even understand how they stored memories. Just like I would probably never understand how his kind was capable of possession. I mean, the brain was a really intricate biological computer, right? So information could be transferred...

But how did that work?

Worry was palpable in his voice. "Are you afraid?"

"No."

I wasn't afraid. The only thing that worried me was Dumuzi himself. According to him, this knowledge would make me think differently about him. It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to remain confident that he was wrong.

The small room in front of me beckoned me to satiate my curiosity. I took a step forward.

"Before you go, I need to say something."

As I turned back to look at him, I stiffened. With heated intensity, he studied my face, searching for something. To convey that I was okay, I softened my features and nodded for him to speak.

"I would like to emphasize that this time, it is I who should be apologizing. Regardless of how different we are, and despite what emotions we feel or don't feel, I do care for you. I want you to know this."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up a finger. His stare remained fixed. My body flooded with tingles hearing him say that he cared for me in his weird, alien way of doing so. He was the first person ever to like me, so I blushed a bright, fiery red.

"I understand if you do not wish to see me after this. I understand if you do not wish to see any of us. You are free to go to Nibiru, or anywhere else, if you change your mind about the two of us."

"Not likely. How bad can it really be, Dumuzi?"

I sounded confident, but my hands shook. Some part of me said this was a bad idea—maybe it was better to be ignorant and not know the truth. Blissfully unaware. The bigger part of me wanted to know; after all, I had asked for this, and before I could get closer to him, I needed to see the ghosts in his closet.

I had to introduce myself to them all.

He had to give me some credit, though. I did this shit for a living back in the day. He eyed me calmly. "I can pull you out if it is too much for you."

"Great. So, I just walk right in there?"

My voice broke on great.

"More or less."

I faced the small room. Only a few steps stood between me and the center. I took those steps, my head spinning with questions and worries. Upon reaching the center, I exhaled deeply. Gentle vibrations thrummed in my feet, so constant that it rattled my teeth.

The room grew its own walls, yet they were not a solid thing. What looked like black ink, or maybe a dark silver—I wasn't sure—defied gravity altogether, climbing up the sides. It swirled and moved as if alive. I could have sworn the ink was expanding and contracting like it was breathing.

I was never one to be claustrophobic, but suddenly it was hard to pull in a breath myself.

Is it too late to dip out? Maybe this was a horrible idea.

"This is cool," I said, swallowing back panic. "But a little scary—"

Whispers came from every corner of the room. The room didn't even seem like a room anymore—just a giant, undulating sphere of the strange liquid that swallowed the walls. My vision went stark white.

Okay, very scary.

Somewhere in the chaos, I shrieked.

Warm arms embraced me and my nostrils filled with a familiar scent I knew. Dumuzi. I couldn't see him; couldn't see anything, really, other than endless, bright white. He was warm and hard against my back. I shrank into his embrace, about to ask if this part was normal, but my voice was lost.

"I have decided to do this together."

Oh, thank heavens.

I focused on the warmth of his arms and the safety of his hold. I clung to him like a life raft in the middle of a turbulent sea.

Everything changed.

His hold was gone. So was the world around me, as if I was beamed into another universe, leaving my brain somewhere behind. The following nausea from the swift change hit me like a ton of bricks–but I couldn't feel my stomach, either, so all I could do was embrace the discomfort, wishing it to settle.

I closed my eyes to ground myself. Fear ripped through every nerve ending like a fire eating a dry forest, locking me in place. I couldn't think. I couldn't focus.

I need to get the fuck out of here. This is not what I had in mind!

I panicked, feeling like my throat was going to close in on itself.

Breathe, Dumuzi's voice was soft and tender. His voice no longer came from behind me, but from somewhere inside my head. You may be here, but you are also in my arms. Your heart is beating so quickly, little human. Try to relax.

"I can't feel you," I said, my voice echoing around me.

But I can feel you. You are safe.

My heart slowed to a normal pace as I let his words soak deep. Opening my eyes, I stared at a black, glossy floor. What the hell?

"Is this like VR?" I asked, but did not get an answer.

Maybe he didn't know what that was?

"Or more like stepping into a movie?" I tried again.

Pay attention to what is around you, Pearl.

I inhaled stale air and winced at the bitter tinge of it. It was like the scent of antiseptic—burning, sharp, yet numbing at the same time. If this was some sort of virtual reality, it was eerily realistic.

The surrounding space was somber, save the blue, glowing spaces that grew clearer as I blinked away tears. The floor was shadowed, made of stone or concrete, I wasn't sure. As the world set into place, scuffles and footsteps came from somewhere in the room.

I was not alone.

The glowing spaces of blue looked like beds with glittering, hovering appendages mimicking the tentacles of a jellyfish. One of those beds was open, the appendages splayed out like fingers belonging to an open hand, beckoning.

My heart skipped a beat. Splatters of wetness trailed to a small, quivering body folded in on itself on the floor. Behind the body stood a man, but he was not human. Too tall, too strange, with grey eyes and an ancient aura.

An Enuki.

"Oh," I muttered. "So it is like a movie, but I... don't think they can hear me?"

They cannot.

The Enuki's hair was long and black, yet wavy, and his skin was very dark. He looked at the quivering body as if he was taking mental notes. The Enuki spoke.

At first, it was just how Dumuzi sounded the first time I met him: brash, alien, high-pitched and low-pitched at the same time; a thousand voices at once. The person on the floor cringed away from this man as if his voice evoked physical pain. With each word, his tone and pitch changed into something recognizable.

I soon understood his words.

"The organism has escaped containment. We need to reevaluate this situation and try again, but we do not have the time to do so..." There was a word or a phrase I did not recognize. "... What do you believe?"

Who is he speaking to?

The person on the floor unfolded themselves and shook with terror, their lips formed into an 'o'. Brown, frantic eyes searched the room, nearly hidden by black hair. They wore no clothing.

The naked form of this person seemed female; they were small, built with muscle, yet curved in the midsection with breasts rising and falling with each breath.

I hadn't realized there was another person in the room until now. So that made three. There was another Enuki in the corner, shrouded in shadows. My stomach twisted as my gaze shifted to him and back to her.

Was the girl human? She looked as such, but was different. She was tiny. Smaller than me, but not a child by any means.

"I agree, Aera," said the mystery Enuki in the corner. "There is no time to waste. This must be dealt with immediately."

"I cannot bear the thought of keeping her in containment," the black-haired Enuki, Aera, replied. "The creature must be under tremendous stress. We have gathered our observations by introducing the microbe Scorfirmus Prirhagia 576-00 into their immune system. It appears that we are on the verge of producing a comprehensive report of potential cures for other civilizations. We should release her. Her work here is done."

Other civilizations?

My mind fluttered with confusion as I tried to keep up with his words. They gave her an illness? It seems like they were running tests on her. As soon as the understanding of what exactly was happening hit, my stomach twisted into knots and I fought the urge to get sick again.

This was awful. Dumuzi had alluded to us being experiments gone wrong, but I did not know to what degree that was.

Before I could gather myself, the other Enuki spoke.

"I am concerned. We have to accelerate their evolution so they can adapt to our sciences more successfully. Each time we visit them, they resemble us more and more because of our meddling. At what point do we stop?"

"There is still a long way to go before it can resemble something more conscious. It has a lifelong and complex illness now. Leaving it alone would only result in more suffering."

"A brilliant point, Aera."

I focused on the man in the corner. He stepped out into the light. With shock, I realized he looked similar to Dumuzi. The same color eyes, the same hair, almost a carbon copy, but I knew Dumuzi well enough to note some subtle differences.

I am related to him. Dumuzi's voice came as soft as a whisper. Enki is his name, later to be known as Ae, the creator of mankind and knowledge.

"Who is she?" I asked, pointing to the girl.

These are earlier times on Earth; the girl is a direct ancestor to your kind. A later version of homo heidelbergensis. We ran tests to mitigate the risk of a quickly evolving virus-like microbe that was wiping out other lifeforms we created. They begged us, as their creators, to take responsibility and cure them. Essentially, we did what we could... but at the cost of creating your kind by mistake.

My face went slack with terror. My feet carried me forward until I was beside the girl. I got on my knees, reaching out to her, but my hands went right through. She was caught up in the crossfire of different lifeforms trying to find a cure for some illness?

How awful.

"They are debating on whether to let her go," I said to Dumuzi. I stared at my ancestor, shocked, as the beings loomed over her. My voice trembled. "The least they could do is not frighten her and give her a pleasant space to live out her life, as you did with me. Whatever time she has left, away from the others. What are they going to do?"

He did not respond.

"It's okay," I told her. I felt weirdly related to this frightened girl. After all, we probably were in some way. She turned her face toward me, almost as if she heard me. Her lips moved, her voice gravelly. She was saying something to Aera. Aera stared back at her. The girl rose with shaking knees and she held out a hand.

"It questions me," Aera said. "It acknowledges us as its creators, and is thanking us for the rain."

The girl reached out with her fingers to touch the man's arm. He watched her carefully, cocking his head to the side. "What should we do?"

"Her body should be harvested for further experimentation, and her consciousness should be terminated. That is the only proper course of action. From here on out, we should let them be. The consequences of meddling with their biology will be greater than the benefits."

Terminate her consciousness? Kill her?

I got off my knees, putting myself between them. I stood in front of the girl who had no clue her death was a discussion—she was only a science project. She had no idea. There was a smile on her lips. She seemed fascinated. Intrigued. Everything I had felt when learning who and what Dumuzi was.

We both had shared that wonder.

"You can't treat her like this!" I yelled, sure that they could not hear me, but I did it anyway. Words exploded out of me like buckshot. "She's human! You made her, even if it wasn't your intention! You can take responsibility for everything else you created, but not for us?"

Before I could move, before I could process the mortification in my stomach, Aera reached out and put a hand on her tiny shoulder, almost lovingly. "My apologies. My sincere thanks go out to you for your adoration and sacrifice."

White smoke swirled in the air from his fingers, enveloping the girl's face like a mask. The smoke. I knew that smoke. Her eyes—which were wide with wonder—narrowed. Her pupils dilated.

She slumped over, her head hitting the floor with a gut-wrenching crack.

She was dead.