Tessa had stayed in the apartment four days straight, and was bored out of her skull. The curfew had finally lifted the night before, but the apartment building was still rather quiet. The news was still also awash with fear about the mysterious ‘terrorists’ who were apparently behind the attack, politicians pointing fingers in various directions.

Apparently someone had built enough fake evidence to point figures at a specific country as the home of the made up threat, which various pundits were insisting needed to be invaded to prevent future attacks. Tessa found that frustrating, though unsurprising. Military types were always excited for the next war. 

Under de facto house arrest and finding herself doom scrolling both social media and the news, Tessa couldn’t take it anymore. She had to get outside. Get some fresh air.

There was a rational reason to go outside, too. She had to test how well the entity could pass for a human. It was probably better to do a small test run first. Before they tried anything like taking a bus, where they’d be with the same people for half an hour or longer. 

Or she could leave the entity inside and go for a walk on her own. She supposed an argument could also be made that it was best to let it out as few times as possible, to have fewer chances for things to go wrong.

Tessa spent a few minutes weighing the pros and cons of both options, before reasoning, that, no. The test run was better. 

“We need to see how well you can keep a low profile,” she said, turning to the entity, which was currently sitting upside down on the ceiling.

“We do?” it asked. 

“The best way to get out of town is probably going to be to take a bus out of the city proper… one of the ones that go way out into the countryside. Then fly low from there,” Tessa said, realising she hadn’t actually explained the plan to the entity before. “Since, if you fly around in the city people will see you and that will probably lead to the air force being called in or… something. It would be bad, either way.”

The entity nodded along. It didn’t really seem swayed by the argument so much as by the fact Tessa was the one making it. Still, she’d take what she could get. 

“Then what?” the entity asked.

“Hmm?”

“Where do we go after?” the entity continued.

“Oh… uh… I… I’m not sure,” Tessa replied, feeling a bit self conscious. “We might go to Toronto, I have a cousin there… or my friend in Northern Alberta who might know somewhere we could hide in the bush. Or, we could try your par—Garcelle’s parents, in France? Getting out of the country might be smart.”

Tessa let out a tired sigh, leaning against the desk. There were too many options.

She was also now hit with the question about how to handle Garcelle’s parents. Should she contact them, and let them meet the entity that had taken control of their daughter’s body? Or was it better to leave them with their memories, and not show them the result?

While she ended up more than a little lost in thought over the issue she wasn’t lost enough to miss the way the entity drifted to the ground, its glow subsiding as it stood there. Even its hair seemed to be (mostly) respecting the pull of gravity. 

“Huh. That’s—that’s the most human I’ve seen you look. Good work,” Tessa said. “You just need some sunglasses.”

The entity nodded, looking oddly… pensive? She’d never seen it seeming quite so mellow before. 

She grabbed the sunglasses, carefully sliding them in place. The entity looked so… normal now. Tessa couldn’t help smiling. The entity noticed and gave a slightly off attempt at a smile in return. It was too wide and too tight.

“We—we’ll work on expressions later,” Tessa said, as she grabbed her keys and wallet. 

It gave another soft nod before following her out the door. It really was doing a good job of just walking. 

Stepping out of the apartment building, Tessa took a moment to breathe in the fresh air. It was nice to be outside again. 

Making it a block, she decided they should go a bit further. Down to Point Pleasant Park, to sit by the water. Trees and the ocean were a good combination for lowering stress levels, and she needed that. It was a bit of a walk, but it was pretty well all quiet residential streets, so it felt fairly safe as a test for the entity. 

After a few blocks they’d only seen a handful of other people out walking. It was honestly quieter than she expected for a Tuesday afternoon. She had to guess a lot of people were still out of town after everything. 

The park itself was even quieter as they walked along, enjoying the fresh spring air. They had to get past the parking lot before they got to the ocean, but once they were there it was worth it. The soft lapping of the waves brought a calm to Tessa’s being she hadn’t felt since the mess began. 

She walked past the small sandy beach and to the stoney shores beyond it, standing there and closing her eyes. She just listened. She’d grown up in the city, near the water. Her family had lived in Halifax so long she felt like the salty water of the harbour was in her blood. Sure, she wasn’t exactly the most naval person you’d meet, unable to handle any boat bigger than a canoe, but the sound of the water… that was something she needed in her life.

Opening her eyes, she looked over to see the entity staring out across the water. Its hair was starting to float again, but it was subtle. 

She found herself wondering what effect the sound of the ocean was having on it. She’d known Garcelle had been similarly drawn to the sound as her, having grown up in Saint-Nazaire. Listening to the other side of the Atlantic. 

The entity, though. What went through its head? What did the sound of the ocean mean to it?

Tessa couldn’t begin to guess as they walked along the shore, the Entity’s head remaining oddly fixed in one direction. She was about to ask what it was looking at, when it seemed to realise something new.

“Stay here,” it said.

She was about to ask why when there was a burst of blue energy. She found herself frozen in place, the entity hurrying off, repeating ‘no flying’ to itself. She tried to turn her head. Her eyes. Anything. She needed to see what the alien was doing, but none of her muscles responded.

The entity was out of earshot in seconds, and she was left with only her mind and rising adrenaline. 

This was a nightmare. 

A disaster.

She never should have let it out of the apartment. It wasn’t trained. It wasn’t human. She was being too nice to it, all because it looked like her girlfriend. It had played on her emotional bond to that face. 

Now who knew what was going to happen to the city? To the world, even?

She was pretty sure if she could control her breathing she’d be hyperventilating right now.

Wait. Was she breathing? 

She wasn’t sure. Her whole body felt rather numb. If she wasn’t breathing then… well, that generally was a very bad sign. Ten out of ten dentists agreed, and you could never get that tenth dentist to agree to anything.

Well, if she was still making jokes, that was probably a good sign. Unless it meant she was going delirious from lack of oxygen. She supposed that was a possibility.

“Oh no,” the entity’s inhuman voice said from somewhere behind her. “I meant to time lock you. I was too excited… you would not have known…”

Suddenly Tessa’s body was free and she stumbled forward. She blinked a few times, realising how dry her eyes felt. Then turned to see the entity standing behind where she’d been. The city behind it didn’t seem to be on fire.

Also, it was holding two ice cream treats in its hands. One looked to be strawberry, the other chocolate-caramel. It handed her the strawberry one.

“Um… thank y—” she started, before it grabbed her wrist and pushed her arm up, so that the ice cream hit her cheek. “Huh!?”

“Oh. You have ice cream on your cheek,” it said, suddenly leading to a wave of deja vu for Tessa.

Wasn’t that— the entity leaned in, kissing her cheek where the ice cream had been.

A near exact recreation of her and Garcelle’s date back as undergrads. When they’d gone to this park in early September. Having ice cream as they walked. Tessa had gotten some on her cheek (more naturally that time) and Garcelle had kissed her and cleaned off the ice cream in one smooth move.

The first time Garcelle had kissed her.

Which meant… that soft look in the entity’s eyes…

“G-Garcelle? You’re… you’re still…” Tessa mumbled, confused emotions washing over her.

“Oui… or… no… or… sort of?” the entity stammered. “All of Garcelle is here… but more is also here. I… I was Garcelle. I do not know if I still am.”

Tessa’s lips quivered, no idea how to respond… well, there was one thing she knew would go over well, and she felt so much more ready to do that now. She stepped forward, placing her free hand on the side of entity’s head, pulling it in for a kiss. 

There was less tingling this time. It felt more like a human kiss. As well as a kiss that was enthusiastically returned. She felt safe to say that was one of Garcelle’s kisses.

They broke the kiss eventually, as she still needed air, but she continued to stare into the entity’s eyes. They seemed softer now. Tessa hoped that wasn’t just an illusion, brought on by wishful thinking.

“There is so much in my… dans mon cerveau… too much for a human… too much knowledge. Too much information,” the entity said, before pausing and blinking. “Ice cream is very tasty.”

Tessa took her turned to blink. “Pardon?”

“I only just processed how good it tasted… I had forgotten,” it said, turning and beginning to eat its own ice cream with exceptional enthusiasm.

Tessa realised her own was beginning to melt, even in the cool spring air, and so began to lick the more melted areas to keep on top of it. Her focus remained on the entity, though. Could she call it Garcelle again?

She didn’t know, but, she had hope again, at least?

They continued to walk along the waterfront, enjoying their ice creams in relative quiet. The entity was much too focused to speak at first.

Eventually, though, a question hit Tessa she couldn’t ignore.

“Um… how did you pay for this ice cream? You don’t have a wallet on you.”

The entity stared at her. “Pay? Oh! Oh! Oui! Payer! That is what the shop girl asked about…”

“… what did you do,” Tessa said, her voice flat.

---

Alien hardware was always a headache to work with. It never interfaced properly with Earth technology. Dr. Montgomery had learned to avoid using it whenever possible. 

Unfortunately there was no avoiding it sometimes. Like now, as she found herself watching the alien technician work on connecting the device to hunt for the Asset to one of their computers, a gift from their ‘benefactor’. She left the alien man to his work as she paced about. His species were boring, a race of pencil pushers. Add on the currently human disguise, covering over the one interesting aspect he had, and she was sure that watching white paint dry would be more exciting than talking to him. She did think there was something less memorable she’d done recently, but, perhaps somewhat ironically, she couldn’t recall what it had bee—

“Dr. Montgomery, I do not mean to interrupt, there is a report from Halifax that may interest you,” a male voice said.

The suddenness of it would have likely caused her to jump, if the tone had been any more striking. Turning, she saw the CSIS agent standing by the door, a tablet in his hand.

“What kind of report?” she asked, storming over, and realising she’d forgotten the man’s name. Did it start with an ‘e’, or end with an ‘e’? Or… she was normally better at these things, but this man felt almost unnaturally forgettable. 

She also didn’t really care, expecting to be free of dealing with him soon enough.

“A time irregularity, the local police are currently on the scene,” the agent replied.

She grabbed the tablet out of his hands, walking out of the room and towards the rest of her staff. The report was still active, the police on the site. A store was currently locked in time, a video clip showing objects sitting in the air, looking as if they’d simply stopped falling from the counter. There was an odd blue glow about everything. It fit some of the data she’d been shown by the benefactor about what the Asset could do. One of the things that had excited the brass at Groom Lake.

She handed the tablet over to one of the officers under her command.

“Huh,” the man said, looking over the report. “That’s only a few blocks from the Host’s apartment…”

“So, we should have someone we can send over quickly then?” Dr. Montgomery asked, pulling out a cigarette.

“Um… we pulled all personnel out of the city in preparation for the…” the officer paused, glancing at the CSIS agent behind her. “The contingency plan.”

Selma let out a sigh, suspecting where this was going, but knowing she had to ask to make sure. “So, CSIS have someone monitoring the area?”

“When we asked about the Host we were told it was classified and need-to-know only information,” the agent replied.

“So… no one was monitoring the apartment?” she hissed, before lighting her cigarette. She needed a smoke if she was about to get the answer she expected to get.

“Returning to the Host’s home had been ruled unlikely based on what we knew about the Asset,” the officer said.

Dr. Montgomery took in a deep breath of tobacco and nicotine, sighing to release it before turning to the officer. “Well mobilize some forces over there NOW!!”

“Y-yes ma’am!”