When I woke the soft rays of the four Saturn moons shown down upon me. I squirmed around in a panic as I realized I was still tightly bound by rope, I tried screaming but the gag was still firmly stuck in my mouth, a tight band tied around it to keep me from spitting it out.

I started crying as I begin to grow more and more hopeless. I looked at the slightly grassy, mostly dusty and dried rocky, dirt planes of land that I’d been left in. 

With a panic and a sudden surge of nausea, my heart started racing in my chest. 

‘This can’t be happening!’ I screamed in my head.

I’m not sure how long I laid there on the rough terrain but it felt like days had passed by the time the bright sun finally rose and shone harshly on my unprotected skin. I was extremely dehydrated and close to passing out.

In a last ditch effort to save myself, I luckily found a sharp rock on the ground and hastily begin trying to cut my binds with it. To my surprise it worked and after a grueling twenty minutes I had one wrist free.

I ripped out the gag, tore off the tight knot of rope keeping my legs together and finally I was free.

I slumped back against one of those strange trees and let out an exhausted sigh. 

I felt rage boil inside me, Jenna had purposely left me out here to die.

I looked around trying to see which direction the ship was in. I squinted and finally spotted it, miles away. 

I let out a soft sob at the sight of the distance I’d have to walk, I was so very tired and thirsty. The only reason I could even see it was because the exterior was chrome and shone in the bright sun.

I shakily stood up and leaned against the strange tree. There was no way I’d make it back.. exhaustion took over once more and I fell to the ground. I closed my eyes and decided to simply wait for help. I’d either be rescued, die here or die trying to get back to the ship. 

‘Don’t give up’

A voice inside my head whispered to me.

My eyes shot open and I looked around. 

“Hello?” I said aloud.

‘Hello’ the voice inside my head spoke again this time in a chipper tone.

I shook my head in bewilderment.. I really hoped I wasn’t going crazy and hallucinating. 

‘You aren’t’ the voice responded to my thoughts.

“Where are you?” I asked hesitantly. To my surprise the voice laughed. It sounded musical and gracefully feminine although the voice was a bit between masculine and feminine, leaning significantly towards fem.

‘Inside you. You are my new host’ 

“What!? New host?” I asked bewildered.

‘Yes, I require a host to function. Until you came along I was feeding off the trees nutrients.’

“So you’re a parasite?” I asked and as soon as I did I felt a sharp pain emitting from my spine, I let out a low growl, biting my lip with my sharp canines.

“Ouch!!” I screamed.

‘Not a parasite. I do not like that terminology.’ It said with an angry hiss.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you.. but why are you inside me? Are you going to eat me or something?” I said with a hint of fear in my tone.

The voice laughed. 

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I take a small amount of nutrient’s from the food you digest, and in return I will keep you healthy, share my immense knowledge and extend your lifespan far from what is considered natural to your kind.’

Realization suddenly dawned on me and I felt a bit stupid for not putting the pieces of the puzzle together sooner.

“So you’re that goo that came out of the tree?” I felt myself growing angry as I looked down at the small, hyper feminine body I now inhabited.

“Why the fuck did you change me into this!?” I said as I gestured towards my body.

The voice sighed and I swear I could feel it’s emotions. It felt guilty.

‘I am sorry. I did this for my own comfort.’ 

“Your own comfort?” I replied with a bit of an unintentional snarl.

‘You resemble my former host. Although not completely identical to her, I made sure your body wasn’t too far off.’

“Why? What purpose could you possibly have for changing me into a freaky three tailed fox girl?’ I asked.

‘You wouldn’t understand human. Perhaps in time you will. I grow tired of this conversation, if you wish to survive do as I say.’ 

I sullenly agreed with the voice as I tried to stand again.

“Okay what now? And what should I call you?” I asked the creature.

‘You may call me Echo. Dig around the tree, you will find fruit in the ground containing water and nutrients’

I did as Echo asked and to my surprise my nails grew into razor sharp claw like digits as I dug.

‘That should help you dig easier’ Echo said to me.

After digging about a foot deep into the ground I saw the fruits, growing from the roots of the tree. 

They were oval shaped with a hard shell, my nails easily pierced the shell and I put my mouth to the broken fruit. It was the most refreshing liquid I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. It was like a mix of sweet coconut water and mango juice. 

I greedily tore into 6 fruits and drained every single one to the last drop.

Echo let out a content sigh inside my head, I could tell they were happy now that we had sufficient nutrition.

“By the way.. don’t take offense to this but.. I can’t really tell, are you a girl or a guy?”

I asked my new ‘roommate’ (bodymate?) 

‘Neither. My species is genderless, although some of us identify as one or the other.’ Echo stated.

“Interesting.” I replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Echo instructed me to rip a piece of my shirt off, I did and they had me tie it a certain way so that it would hang around my torso, I was able to carry some of the fruit inside of it for the long journey back to the ship. 

I was surprised that Echo was able to make my body run faster in short bursts, they explained to me that it burned too much energy to enhance my natural abilities at a constant rate so they were limited to using small bursts of energy which was fine by me, it was much better than the snails pace I was going, not to mention I was barefoot and the rough terrain was cutting into the soles of my feet.

By about mid day I was already a quarter of the way back to the ship, Echo and I stopped to rest and I cracked open a few more fruits, greedily gulping down the hydrating juice inside. I noticed the land was scattered with that strange trees here and there.

“Why were you inside one of those when we met?” I asked echo as I pointed towards one of the trees.

‘The original humanoid species that once inhabited this planet are extinct. You are technically now the last of their kind. We lived together for thousands of years, until a mysterious virus that did not effect my species wiped out all of our hosts, without a host my kind cannot live for long, hence why most of us are also dead. The few that remain, live inside the trees in a state of almost nonexistence to preserve energy, like a deep hibernation as you humans call it.’ 

“If you were hibernating then how did you detect me when I was injured?” I asked Echo, they were starting to interest me more and more and I wanted to learn more about them.

Echo chuckled inside my head before speaking,

‘Blood, my young host, your life essence is very potent, I was drawn to it and was compelled to save you.’

“I see, well I’m grateful that you saved me.. although I’m still not too happy about the way you changed my body without asking.”

‘In time perhaps I will change you back, although it would require an immense amount of energy, are you really so unhappy living as a near twin of my former host? She was quite beautiful, intelligent and benevolently kind.. you shared many of those traits even before I changed you, although I respect your wish to have your former body, I must Admit I am very comfortable with you this way and in my honest opinion I consider this body quite the upgrade.” 

I pondered on what echo said for a few moments, I looked down at my tails, my delicate hands and feet, ran my fingers through my silky hair. It really wasn’t that bad.. besides my relationship with Adam had improved substantially because of my change and I had to admit it felt nice having my brother show so much protection and love for me, something that was a rare occurrence back when I was his younger brother, now that I was his sister.. well it almost felt like Adam was acting more fatherly. 

Echo and I made camp near one of the trees for the night, I gathered some dead branches and clumps of dried grass to make a fire as it was becoming increasingly cold. Unfortunately I didn’t have a light or any matches, fortunately, Echo seemed to have a solution for everything. 

I watched in amazement as Echo’s goo like body stretched out of the pores on my arm like a snake coming out of its den, they wrapped themselves around my hand and a spark ignited from my fingertips, causing the little pile of wood and grass to blaze with flame.

Echo retreated back inside my body and I felt them wrap around my nervous system. 

I let out a sigh of satisfaction as the fire burned and I immediately felt it’s warmth, I laid down on the slightly rough terrain and closed my eyes soon falling into a deep, comfortable sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Selina!!” I woke with a start as I heard Adam’s voice, I quickly got up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I spotted Adam, followed by Doctor Jenna, held at gunpoint by one of the other crew members.

Adam rushed towards me and wrapped me up in a tight hug causing me to let out a small squeak.

“I was so worried! As soon as I saw the video recording of what Jenna did..” Adam trailed off as he turned around and glared at her.

“I put all repair operations on hold to try and search for you.” He finished.

I smiled up at him, happy that he had found me.. although I probably would have made it back to the ship on my own with Echos help in another day or two.

Our happy little reunion didn’t last long however as Jenna suddenly kicked the distracted guard in his crotch, he dropped the gun and doubled over in pain.

Jenna didn’t waist a single moment as she grabbed the gun and pointed it to the back of Adam’s head.

“Captain Adam, I am relieving you of your command, you have proved incompetent on this mission and highly distracted, I feel that your emotions are unstable and as such Order dictates that I, as the ships Doctor take command until you are mentally fit to resume.”

Jenna sneered and laughed as she clicked the hammer on the gun back.

“But I don’t think you’ll be mentally fit ever again if you survive this.” She said as she pulled the trigger and the bullet exited the barrel of the gun. My eyes widened as the bullet tore through Adam’s skull. 

I let out a shrill scream as Adam collapsed, blood pooling around his head, the blood slowly trickled towards the tree that I had slept beside the night before.

I turned my attention to Jenna as she pulled back the hammer on the gun again and pointed it at me.

“You’re next you little freak. You’ve been nothing but trouble.” She said to me with a sharp snarl.

As Jenna started to pull the heavy trigger of the revolver I felt Echo slow my senses down and speed my body up at the same time.

Everything I perceived was slowed down, almost like that 90s movie The Matrix.

On instinct perhaps guided by Echo, I flew to my feet with lightning speed, or at least I knew that’s how it appeared to Jenna, everything I saw was in slow motion. 

Her eyes widened as I flew towards her, she fired the revolver at me and I felt Echo take over my legs for a few moments, causing me to just barely dodge the bullet. Jenna was panicking now as I got closer and closer, her gun was powerful but slow and I was much much faster. As she tried to pull back the hammer again I finally reached her, I grabbed the gun and slammed the back of it into the side of her head as hard as I could. I figured Echo enhanced my strength because I heard a small crack on the side of her skull. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed. 

I wasn’t a doctor like Jenna but I knew that I must have slightly fractured the side of her skull, she was still breathing and I determined she was unconscious. I threw the gun as far as I could and ran over to Adam, tears welling up in my eyes. I saw the radio on his hip and grabbed it, frantically while I sobbed I called the ship for help, explaining what had happened. 

Extraordinarily I noticed Goo seeping from the tree, following the trail of blood to Adam’s head. It was a slightly different color than Echo, a deep purple, it slithered it’s way to Adam and buried itself inside the bullet wound. Slowly a deep purple impenetrable shell grew around my brother, I begin to panic more but Echo quickly relaxed me.

‘Do not fear little one. My sister, Ambrosia, will take care of your brother.’