"I got more good news and bad news chat," I announced as I got out of the shower, rubbing water droplets out of my undone air. "There seems to be a never-ending stream of them recently."

[REPENT FOR YOUR SINS!! THE END IS NEIGH AND YOUR ACTIONS ARE INCITING THE DEMONS OF HELL TO TRIGGER THE RAPTURE]

[I still can't believe you legitimately survived that. How did you irl roll a nat 20 on luck and survivability???]

[Sorry Mel, but I'm starting to believe the people claiming this is all fake. Because like....just how!? None of this seems real.]

[You're hair looks very pretty today!]

"Why thanks! I used the last of my conditioner on it, so this is the last you'll ever see my hair look like this unless I'm able to grow the ingredients." I reply to the one decent comment I was willing to engage in.

I came out of the shower in a bathrobe and made my way to sit on the edge of my bed.

I wore a robe instead of my usual towel because I'd been warned by the platform admins that I risked indecent exposure and a towel was too provocative, revealing, and inciting.

They're just professional haters, if you ask me.

"I'm still holding out hope for a miracle on the avocado garden, and divine intervention with the synthetic coconut oil I'm working on. Mix that with extracted avocado oil and my hair is golden and good to go for another 3 years out here." I strategize to the near millions of people watching.

[Intervention is truly what you need!! Like what sins did you commit in a past life to invoke such a demon to come after you!? You must be a wretched creature, indeed!! 🔥🔥🔥]

I briskly walk over to my desk and pull out my keyboard.

"Block....words.... 'intervention' .... 'demon' .... 'summon' .... 'commit' ..... and 'invoke'. Anything else I missed?"

Word suggestions came pouring in of what else I should add to my block list.

[Ou! Add 'rapture!' ☝🏽]

[Don't forget 'repent'!!🐍]

[Throw in 'sins' for good measure!! I'd say add 'pray', but that's too broad and some people genuinely send well wishes 🤷🏽‍♀️]

[This is censorship!!! My right to free speech is being suppressed!!]

[Add 'free speech' and 'suppress' as well Mel 😆]

"I like the way you all think." A grin forms as I furiously typed away.

I settle in and finish typing when the package Leo and Dion sent me caught my eye.

"Oh yeah, let's check what this is-"

BEEEEEEEEP!!!

A loud siren cut of all my thoughts, and all the lights in my room turn blood red.

I freeze before I grab hold of the tiny item.

My screen showings in big bold blue letters among the sea of red:

EMERGENCY MEETING!!!

"Gah! Patch it through then!!" I cry as I block my ears against the assault of loud noises.

Good thing my doors were closed, otherwise this piercing nose could attract back that unholy monster or something.

I walk up to my main computer ready to rip my cords out to make the siren stop when the video screen on my monitor cuts to a board room full of unhappy-looking people.

Some were dressed in Navy and Military outfits, others lab coats and fancy business suits.....and then there's me in an unsavoury-looking off-white bathrobe.

I see Carol tucked away at a faaaar corner of the grand table, looking uncomfortable and small amongst the giant imposing people around her.

I took a moment to drink it all in.

"Well, aren't I underdressed for the occasion?" I start off by joking to break the ice.

No one on the other end of my video feed seemed amused.

I lean back while still holding my stance and across my arms.

Tough crowd.

My chat seemed to like the joke so all is well anyway.

The General-looking person opened their mouth to speak, and a loud pterodactyl sound overcame my speakers, and I was scrambling to block my ears.

"AAAHH!!" I cry in pain from the shrill piercing sound.

I bent down under my desk and start pulling panels open and apart.

"One sec, let me try and fix this...." I held up a finger to the group for their patience as I got under my desk setup.

Having literally built this spaceship from scratch by myself with duck tape and a dream, I knew where every last bolt attached went on my ship better than, and unlike, what some pilots knew about the planes they flew.

I knew where exactly the speaker cords to my monitor went, and I unplugged it and rerouted it to my multimedia setup that was more designated to play movie and game audio than that of regular conversation.

It would give the people speaking a more 360 surround sound listening experience, but at least that's better than wanting to rip my ears off every time they spoke.

"How's that?" I ask the video feed.

"Can you hear us now??" Carol's voice booms through, loud and clear.

A little too loud. I thought as I subtly reduce the sound.

"Perfectly!" I confirm with a raised thumb as I got out from under my desk.

I was too fidgety to sit at my usual desk spot, so I opted to lean against the counter of my little kitchenette while still standing. So as to maintain some form of a calm posture and relatively neutral outward demeanour.

"So what's up?" I say to the obviously ominous room of higher-up people who will no doubt ruin the rest of my day.

If it's even still the same one as the last where I fought- er, escaped the monster.

"What's up!?" The General-looking character yelled incredulously, like me asking such a question was tantamount to treason.

"Calm yourself, General. Brash emotions won't get us any productive results." The aristocratic-looking science lady in pristine white lab clothes and a cartoonishly pointed nose sitting next to Carol eloquently spoke up.

She turns her hawkish eyes towards me and pins me where I stood with a simple look.

"Captain Melissandra, we are here to discuss your....less than stellar performance regarding your space adventures recently." She began.

OH! Dear God, here we go....

I struggled not to visibly roll my eyes, and pulled back my seat far away from my monitor to sit down and try to get through this conversation without throwing or breaking something.

My eyes landed on the package from the boys, and I wanted to so badly open and play with it instead of doing whatever it was that I was currently forced to sit through.

"....and because of that, we want to make sure we're on the same page. Are we in agreement?"

Apparently the lady had continued talking, and I'd already tuned her out.

Oh no....

"Listen, I'll be completely honest with you. I've had a very long day and I can barely remain conscious as is-"

"Bagfh!" The General gruffed up loudly.

I raise an eyebrow at his interruption.

"Lazy and undisciplined, is what you are." He venomously spat at me.

I feel something in me snap.

"Well excuuuuuse me for not being in a proper mental and physical state of being to handle your little important impromptu "meeting" right now." I fire back.

"Meeeel...." Carol tried to calm me with a warning time but it fell on deaf ears.

"You have never taken anything with a monochrome of professionalism required of someone in your situation!!" The thick-necked man suddenly started roaring at me through the screen as his head continued to get more visibly red.

"Ugh!" It was at that point I scoffed and proceeded to ignore him, "Where is this all coming from, please?" I turn to ask the doctor-looking lady who seemed more emotionally stable to communicate with.

"Your recent....endeavours, have a lot of people back on Earth worried, Melissandra." She replies.

"Worried about what?? Me!? I'm the only one in danger here!" I argue back.

"Well, yes. Before your actions only affected you, when it was deemed you were thought to be the only lifeform on Titan. But now...." The woman trailed off.

"Now what?" I pressed.

"Now you've endangered every single human life on Earth with your reckless and irresponsible actions!!" The General screeched.

I continued to ignore him.

Even though it was becoming increasingly more difficult.

Another man with huge circular glasses and a squat stature on the General's side of the table cleared his throat and spoke up.

"We say all this Captain Melissandra, not to aggravate you, but to bring your attention to the fact that you are posing a greater security risk for the planet Earth."

"In what way?" Maintaining my calm outer resolve was a herculean task, as every fibre of my body shook.

"You've made contact with more than one previously unknown alien life form, whom we still do not know the hostility levels of "more than once." The man flipped through a digital notepad that was also projected onto a screen behind them, where he had highlighted all the listed "incidents" he was referencing.

Every single interaction I had with Leo and Dion that had been broadcasted on my stream now scrolled by on their screen. Once happy moments to me, now used as evidence against me.

I pull my robe tighter around me. Feelings immense levels of discomfort and vulnerability.

I peek at Carol who refused to make eye contact with me.

But her fingers were continuously tapping on the table.

Was.....w-was that Morse code?

My memory of Morse code was rusty, but she seemed to say....."I'm here with you"? Or "I'm on your side".

Regardless of which, the silent solidarity meant more than she'd ever probably know.

The circle glasses man finishes his presentation and turns back to their monitors facing back towards me to continue to speak.

"We were willing to let these incidents slide because the alien life forms seemed to be non-hostile from an exterior perspective-"

"Their names are Leo and Dion." I harshly corrected.

"Hump! She's become attached to the outsiders/probably enemies!!" You know exactly who said this.

I was ready to jump out of my seat and throw something at him. But the only thing stopping me was that I knew nothing I threw would hit him.

But the people in my live chat were already planning a way to doxx him and throw something at him in person.

Circle glasses man clears his throat to get everyone's attention again.

"Ahem, yes, apologies. Leonidas and Dionysus seemed to provide much-needed help at first, and have proven to be allies-" the man said as a subtle jab to the General, "-so we've never registered them as a threat."

Then the slide picture switches to that of the monster I'd faced.

"But your encounter with whatever entity this is has changed everything....."

I sat up, giving him my full attention.

"We don't know what this is," The man sounded slightly terrified at the notion that they couldn't even pin down the creature's origins. "We examined every piece of data your ship sent back to us. Both visual, infrared, and even auditory; and this thing by all accounts shouldn't exist."

My heart goes cold.

"It has no chemical composition that we are aware of!! Outside of you slicing off a chunk of it and sending back the microscopic data to us to examine, we're completely lost and in the dark here. But from all indications, this thing seems to be made of antimatter or something. Which me it's essentially made of nothing."

The man's voice broke as he tried to convey the level of fear that he must have been suppressing while discussing the monster.

"Well as the person who escaped it yesterday, I can tell you for a fact that it is not nothing." I chime in.

"Exactly the problem!!" They say. "It would have been better if we never even knew it existed. But now that we do, and we can't figure it out, we cannot allow it to come near us in case it can actually end us all-"

"Oh dear God in space above!! Don't tell me you're one of those fanatics that think this thing is another sign of the end."

"Then YOU explain what it is!!!"

"IT'S AN INKY SQUID SPACE MONSTER THAT YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH!!!"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW!?"

"CAUSE LEO AND DION ARE SEA CREATURES WITH HUMANOID APPEARANCES!! 1+1 MY GUY!!"

"We simply cannot take that risk, Melissandra." Doctor lady interjects.

"For the love of- YOU TOO!?"

"No no, I am not tethered to the fears of the religious fanatics," she side-eyes her colleague, probably planning to give the person a good talking to after the meeting for letting such personal reasons affect their research.

"Then what is this whole meeting even ABOUT!?" I argue, looking up at my ceiling for some sort of divine Deliverance that I know will never come.

Everything goes silent for a moment as I look back down and see everyone avoiding making eye contact with me.

Even the General was uncharacteristically not jumping in to shout out his points.

"Hello?" I ask, as a response to everyone's silence.

It was at that point Carol seemed to break.

She shoots up from her chair and faces me directly.

"They want to cut you off, Mel."

It was as if I got thrown into a black hole as everything went dark and cold around me.

"W-what....?" Was all I could manage to whisper.

"They want to cut off your internet access, streaming privileges, and all communication to the entire people of Earth."