I made some major edits to Christiane this chapter to tone her down over here on Royal Road so if you find yourself not liking her, please consider reading my story there instead of dropping it. I know it's annoying to have to go to a different site but I'm keeping this here in case people like this unedited verstion better.

Ryan yawned. Another long day of work at a boring job that contributed nothing to his life. He just wanted to get home, browse the internet, maybe play a game, or read. Ah, who was he kidding? He'd probably fall face first on his bed and sleep.

What even was his purpose in life? Most of his income went to rent and food, and on weekends he just stayed at home. What he needed was to get out and be the hero in his own adventure, not just read about them or pretend to be one in the next game on his ever growing Steam list. A Steam list filled with games he bought on sale and would never play.

Honking brought Ryan out of his stupor and he turned just in time to see he had walked into the middle of the road in his post work stupor.

Just before the truck hit him, one thought sprung to mind. Ah, truck-kun has come to take me away.

There was no pain. One minute he was kissing the hood of a trunk and now he was looking at a field of stars.

The transition didn’t even bother him. He was dead now, and he hoped he was looking at heaven.

But he felt hungry and short of breath. He already was hungry, so maybe that followed him to the afterlife, but out of breath?

Had he gone to hell? Would he suffer like this for eternity? He had never considered himself a horrible person, though he had neglected religion. Yeah, so God was real, and he was being punished for his sloth?

This idea didn’t feel right though. The longer he stared at the stars, the more he felt he was still alive, yet something was different.

Yes, he felt out of breath, but he wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t even sure if he still had a mouth! Or did he? Somehow he got the feeling he could still eat and breathe if he found the right stuff.

He should look for food and… air? The only sense he was certain he had right now was sight.

And his eyesight sucked. Everything was blurry, and he was certain some parts of his eyesight were worse than others. He couldn’t even be sure if what he was looking at were stars or just spots of light in his vision from his run in with the hood of a truck.

It was strange. He didn’t have to turn his head to look at the surrounding stars, he could just see them all at once as if he was looking in every direction at once. He could also tell he wasn’t looking like he would with normal eyes. It was as if he was reaching out and feeling around him. How he was doing it he didn’t know, but it was enough to confirm to him that this was how spirits saw or he wasn’t human anymore.

He noticed something near him. It looked like a long river of the most delicate cotton candy he had ever seen and was almost see-through, as if it wasn’t even there. Still, an instinct inside of him drove him to it, and slowly, ever so slowly he moved to it.

He didn’t know how long it took him to get there. It felt both short and long. He had no way to tell time, so he had no way to tell.

On the way he noticed a fresh sensation, as if he was getting used to his new body, or whatever he had become. It wasn’t quite pain, but more of a nagging feeling as something had hit him recently. Hit him in the… head? He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t have any hands he knew of to inspect the wound.

Thankfully, the sensation went away, though if he thought about it, he could tell it was still there, among many others. His “eyes,” “fists(!?),” “shell(?),” and “skin,” among others, all felt injured. He knew he should also feel his “legs” and “main brain(!?)” but they just weren’t there.

“Fists” and “shell” aside, the thing about his “main brain” confused him. What was a main brain? Was it gone because of the “injury” to his “head?” If brain wasn’t there, why could he still think and remember his life? Maybe it was his soul’s memories of his body as he died? But if it was, why would he have a “shell?”

He looked closely at the “cotton candy.” No, it was a cloud of hot, but thin gas. Now that he was closer, he got a better look at it and saw it was a gas with only one proton and one electron. Hydrogen. Why did he want this hydrogen so badly?

He entered the river of hydrogen and “breathed” it in. He still felt out of breath, but it relieved him of some urgency he felt.

He looked down both directions that this “river” of hydrogen went, and saw that in one direction it ever so slowly got thicker. Deep down he knew he would suffocate if he didn’t find a better source, but this bought him more time. If only he could move faster.

A thought appeared inside his head. If only he had help. If he was so injured he could barely move on his own, it would be nice if he could find some help. But where? This river of gas was the only substantial thing he could see anywhere near him.

But if he could get someone, what kind of person would he want? It would have to be someone that could help heal him. What would they look like? A hot nurse would be best. Tall, sexy, with a big butt, and huge… No no no no, stop being a pervert. There’s no way a hot nurse like that would come… though there was that nurse he saw last time he visited a hospital. Shorter than him, though not too short. Brown hair down to her chin, blue eyes, and average rack, but a nice butt and legs.

He felt satisfied with that image and put the entire thing out of his mind. He had better things to worry about. Like going to sleep. Yes, sleep would be good. If he slept maybe this river would take him somewhere nice.

“Where the **** am I?”

A voice brought him out of his sleep.

He looked around him and saw just the endless river of hydrogen.

“Can someone turn on the lights? I can’t see a thing!”

Ryan focused on the voice. It was coming from inside him?

A room came into focus alongside the view of the hydrogen and stars.

It was the strangest thing. He was still looking outside like usual, but in a separate part of his mind he could see the room too.

A nude woman stood in front of some sort of cylinder. She was dripping wet and fumbled around the room looking for something to grab on to.

Ryan remembered her saying she couldn’t see and wondered if there was some way he could help her turn on the lights.

As soon as he thought about it, the lights turned on… and saw that the woman bore a striking resemblance to the nurse he thought about before he went to sleep. She was shorter and was certain her face was different, though prettier and with no flaws.

The woman blinked and shielded her eyes from the light, “About **** time someone turned on the lights ‘round here.”

“Sorry about that,” Ryan said, unsure if she could hear him.

The woman looked “to” Ryan, or at least where he was watching her from.

“Where you hidin’?” the woman growled before grabbing her throat.

She looked down at her body and after a moment of shock, “I turned into a chick!”

Ryan was just as confused as she was, “What?”

The woman began groping her body, “Yep, got the woman bits.”

Ryan noticed the woman didn’t exactly look angry, but judging how she kept fondling her breasts…

“You used to be a man?” Ryan knew something like that wasn’t normally possible, but he couldn’t exactly say his situation was normal, either.

The woman nodded, but was getting more distracted by the second, “You bet these tits I was. Right pissed at you I am, turning me into a chick and all.”

The woman’s behavior didn’t exactly convince him, “Maybe I’ll come back to you after you finish.”

The woman was panting now and her hands were…

Ryan “left” the room.

It was weird, normally seeing something like that would… uh… excite him, but now all he felt was embarrassment. He sympathised with her, though. If he suddenly found himself in a woman’s body, he would probably do the same thing after he had some time alone. Whoever that was must not have much shame to just start like that in front of someone.

Ryan checked in on the woman over the next several hours only to have the same noises greet him and only when she stopped and it seemed like she fell asleep did he keep the audio on.

“Hey! Pervert! You there?” came the woman’s voice after sleeping for several hours.

Ryan’s mind drifted back to the room and turned the camera back on, “What?”

“Let me outta here! I’m hungry or do ya plan on starving me!”

The woman was climbing near Ryan’s “eye” on a cylinder like the one she had come out of and when Ryan spoke she found the eye or camera or whatever and put her face as close to it as she could.

Ryan hadn’t even thought about her food. That was important. The only problem was where?

Suddenly he knew. He didn’t know how, but he knew where this woman could get some food, “You can get some food and water in the next room over.”

The image of another room opened in Ryan’s mind next to the one the woman was in. It looked like a standard break room with two tables and several chairs. There was an alcove in the back that he was certain dispensed food and water.

The woman walked up to the door and looked at it, “How in the **** do you open the door?”

Ryan opened it with a thought, “Uh, for now I’ll do that.”

The door opened without a noise.

The woman looked at the camera, “You best not be lockin’ me in any rooms.”

She walked out into a hallway.

A new image of the hallway the woman opened and Ryan turned off the lights, closed the door to the now empty room, and turned on the lights in the hallway.

The woman looked down both directions of the hallway. To her right were two rooms, one on either side of the hall. Past them was a closed bulkhead and Ryan knew it was closed because there was no air on the other side.

To the left the hallway had several doors more doors and another hallway intersecting this one about eight rooms away followed by another two before it ended at a lift.

“The next door to the left,” Ryan told the woman just in time to stop her from saying something.

The woman looked at the door and walked to it, “Your food better be good. With all these fancy gizmos around here, I’m expectin’ five stars! Lots of booze too!”

Ryan opened the door and turned on the lights in the room, “I’m new here too so I couldn’t say.”

The woman walked into the room and looked around, “I don’t see nothin’ here that looks like food.”

“All I know is that alcove in the back is where the food and water comes from,” Ryan didn’t see how.

The woman walked up to the alcove, “I don’t see nuttin’ that looks like food.”

Ryan wondered if he would have to do it too, like everything else.

With a thought, Ryan tried to activate the alcove. A thought popped into his head. What kind?

Ryan had no idea what this woman liked, “Uh, what kind of food do you want?”

The woman thought, “Hmm, how ‘bout some of that fancy French food all them rich people eat.”

French food? Foix Gras? That was fancy, wasn’t it?

He got the distinct impression he couldn’t get Foix Gras.

He thought of several more foods, each less complex than the last, and all got rejected.

“Um, sorry… uh, what’s your name. Oh, I’m Ryan, by the way.”

The woman looked at the camera, “Oh, right. I’ve never done good with introductions. I’m… hmm, I’m a chick now, so maybe I’ll change my name. Hmm, Pam… nah. Laura? Vixen? Nah, too slutty. I’m a sexy nurse. Sexy nurse… Christiane. Yeah, she was one sexy nurse. Stared at her tits while she stitched my leg up.”

Ryan wished he could roll his eyes and facepalm, “So, Christiane, I… can’t seem to get any food to come out.”

Christiane spun around to look at the camera, and looked pissed, “What you mean you can’t get any food to come out!? You gonna make a man…  uh, chick… starve!?”

“I’m trying but the machine tells me it can’t make what I’m asking.”

Christiane turned back to the alcove and kicked it, "****** machine. Just make me something.”

Ryan went simple and tried for water. 

The chemical composition of water flashed through his mind, and a metal cup dropped onto the alcove. A spigot then lowered over the cup and filled it with water.

Christiane stopped kicking the alcove and picked up the water, “Better than nothing. You finally figure out how to work this contraption?”

Ryan had, “You’re not gonna like it. It wants to know what chemicals the food it’s made of and where everything goes.”

Christiane drained the water and slammed the empty cup onto the alcove, “That’s easy. Just make me a ham sandwich. Bread on the bottom, a ****load of ham, and then another piece of bread on top.”

Ryan sighed. He didn’t want to explain it to Christiane right now, “Well, there must be something in there.”

Ryan thought about the alcove and what it could do, and a list appeared in his mind’s eye.

The list was full of errors. Except one thing. A nutrient supplement retrieved from the growth vat system.

Christiane would not like this, “Uh, the data got corrupted and the only thing it could find was whatever it fed you in the growth vat.”

Christiane made a disgusted look, “Ehh. So ya mean no hamburgers, or steak, or fried chicken?”

“Nope. Just the nutrient supplement it took from the growth vat’s computer,” Ryan sympathized with Christiane, but at least there was food for her.

Christiane sighed, "Just give it to me. I’m gonna starve ta death.”

Ryan commanded the alcove to make the nutrient supplement.

Another cup dropped onto the alcove and after a whirring noise the spigot lowered again, filling the cup with a thick, brown goo.

Christiane picked up the cup and looked inside in disgust, “Did this thing just take a **** in the cup?” She sniffed it, “Least it don’t smell like ****.”

Ryan noticed something. Was Christiane’s language being censored? Well, with a mouth like hers it might be good. What surprised him was the lack of censor bars for her privates.

“Just drink it,” Ryan said, wanting to hurry things up, “cause it’s all you’re getting.”

Christiane stuck her finger in the goo and licked it, “At least it’s better than it looks. Maybe make it less like someone had the runs and took a **** in my cup next time.”

Ryan guessed he could try to make the machine use less water, “Sure.”

Christiane sat down at a table and began scooping the paste into her mouth with her fingers, “Maybe…” slurp… “a spoon…” lick… “next time…”

“Sure, that thing can poop out a cup, so it can probably poop out a spoon,” Ryan said just before the alcove made another noise and dropped a spoon.

Christiane looked at the spoon and laughed, “Did you do that on purpose?”

Ryan was missing not being able to use body language, “No, it just did it because I thought about it.”

Christiane got up from the table and picked up the spoon, “Thought about it? You mean this contraption can read your thoughts?” She looked at the alcove, “Can it read my thoughts?”

Christiane put the cup and spoon down and put her fingers to her temples and stared at the machine.

Nothing happened.

Christiane kicked the alcove, “Not workin'.” She then turned to the camera, “Where you hidin’ anyway? Don’t hide behind the camera like a pussy.”

Ryan had no idea, “I… don’t know. It’s almost as if I am the… wherever we are.”

Christiane picked up the cup and spoon, “Looks we got kidnapped by the government or aliens. I’m bettin’ aliens and we’re on their ship.” Christiane scowled at the camera, “Wait, you ain’t some alien science nerd pretendin’ are ya? Gonna give my hot *** a probin’ later, ya sick perv?”

Ryan sighed over the speaker, “Listen, I don’t know why I’m here or who brought me here, but I… uh… am? just as human as you. It’s probably my fault you are here though.”

Christiane picked up a chair and set it under the camera, “Well, send me back! I got three kids and a wife that nags at me…” she relaxed, “Wait, maybe don’t send me back there. I’m a hot piece of *** now, I can go all gold digger now. Suckin’ off a nasty rich dude once or twice a month don’t sound too bad. Maybe divorce him after a few years and take half his stuff.”

Ryan really wished he could take her back. He wasn’t sure how long he could handle her personality, “I wish I could, but I don’t think we’re anywhere near Earth right now.”

Christiane sat on the chair hard, “Can’t get us back?”

Ryan had no idea where they were, other than the river of hydrogen, all he could see were the stars, but those were so distant he would probably “suffocate” before reaching one at the speed he moved right now.

Ryan remembered part of the request he made when making Christiane’s body. A nurse. But he doubted that when Christiane was a man, she was a nurse.

“What did you do for work?” Ryan felt he already knew the answer.

Christiane looked up at the camera, “I worked as a mechanic in the Air Force, why?”

This reinforced an idea he had hoped was wrong. He had requested a nurse but got a mechanic instead, “Well, I’m pretty sure we’re on a ship in space and I’m the ship, and without your help we’re not getting home.”