“I don't have a natural form, Captain Bascos. It doesn't really matter what newborns in my native world look like. I can keep whatever shape I want forever.”
Ipsia has smooth blonde hair down to her shoulders. Her eyes are as blue as the sky on Earth. She's an average height and slightly fleshy, with perfect breasts. Her cheekbones are pronounced, her complexion light, her teeth perfect. She's the spitting image of my first girlfriend, Alessandra. Ipsia probably got into my history, she must have discovered this image somewhere and taken on the form to play games with me.
I'd like to look at her a little longer. I've often wanted to go back and talk to Alessandra. We were together for a long time, but then she decided to stay on planet Earth and I went to explore every corner of the galaxy while hunting down criminals. She smiles at me. She knows everything about me, and she knows that it's been over between me and Alessandra for a while. She stays frozen, knowing that she can't move or we'll hit her with our microweapons.
“Don't move,” Eianus tells her kindly, applying the box with the suit to the mutant's body. The suit expands quickly over her limbs, blocking her movements. We can decide which parts of the body to cover and which to block. I leave only her head uncovered. We move out of the cavern and fly towards our shuttle: me, Eianus and behind us, frozen, Ipsia.
It was too easy.
3
We leave immediately. It'll take a few weeks to get to our destination. Ipsia's cell is a cube three yards wide and three yards long, with a transparent forcefield that separates it from the shuttle control room. This way we can keep the prisoner under constant observation. The mutant can request the system to provide tables, beds, chairs, couches, holograms and lots of other things, which come out of the walls and floor. She can ask for food and drink, which the system prepares automatically. Her vital conditions and health are constantly monitored. She can communicate with us, her voice transferred from microphones in the cell to the speakers outside of it.
After we take off, the mutant sits with a defiant expression on her face for a few hours.
Once we leave the Mx-311 solar system, Eianus gets up.
“Captain, our selected route has been confirmed. We should arrive at our destination in no more than four weeks, excluding stops.”
“Fantastic, Eianus. Go get some rest. We've done an excellent job.”
Eianus leaves the control room.
“How long will the boy stay with us?”
The voice comes from the cell speaker to my right. Ipsia is observing me with an amused expression on her face. Prison doesn't seem to bother her a bit.
“I'm sure we don't need two of the Galaxy's finest policemen to bring back a harmless mutant, locked up in a maximum security cell, all the way to prison. Does Eianus already have a new job? What planet are we going to drop him off on?”
It's disturbing to speak with the image of my ex. As I observe her, I realize that she hasn't just copied her appearance, but also her posture, her attitude and her voice. I'm about to respond harshly to the prisoner to inform her that no information of any kind will be given to her, and that communication on subjects unrelated to her detention will not take place on this shuttle, but the words that come out of my mouth are entirely different: “Why do you want to know all of this?”
Error! You can't talk with prisoners, you don't discuss things over, you don't get familiar.
“Don't you want to spend a little time alone, just you and I?”
4
Ipsia knows what she's doing, that's for sure. She uses provocation and slow mental torture as her weapons. When Eianus is around, she doesn't pay any attention to us. She sleeps in her cell, eats, reads, plays, looks at the holos and listens to music. Obviously she can only enjoy the entertainment offered by the system. Communication outside of the ship is forbidden. When Eianus goes back to his cabin or does physical exercise in our gym, Ipsia suddenly becomes talkative.
“You miss Alessandra a lot, don't you?” Ipsia asks me.
I shouldn't answer her, but I want to offend her, try to hurt her.
“Do you think you understand human emotions? You're just a poor mutant and you'll never understand what we feel!” I reply.
“But this mutant can see what you observe. And it seems that your eyes often rest on me. You even do it when Eianus is around. You wait until he gets involved with some aspect of navigating the route and then you look at me out of the corner of your eye. You like looking at me, don't you? Even secretly.”
“You're just a fantasy, some kind of monster. I know your real form. To me, you're just an animal.”
I thought I hurt her and ended the discussion, but she lets out a sincere, and very human, laugh.
“I suppose you really like monsters, then, Captain.”
5
I want to tell the boy what's happening, but something prevents me from doing so. Sometimes I think he's looking at me apprehensively. He seems embarrassed when he enters the control room. Something is changing in our relationship. I start to wonder if Ipsia is doing the same thing with him, but my intuition tells me that's not the case. At any rate, I don't tell him anything and I don't fill him in on my conversations with the mutant.
Meanwhile, it seems as if she's gotten tired of Alessandra's form, so every once in a while she amuses herself by transforming into other provocative, beautiful young girls.
After changing her shape she pretends that she doesn't care about us. We try to remain indifferent. Both of us feel the impulse to turn around and look at her, but we stay focused on our tasks.
“It must be hard going on your space adventures without ever having sex, right, officers?”
Eianus and I exchange glances.
I speak up: “Prisoner, there are various forms of detention. You might want to avoid these useless provocations or we may decide to limit your access to beds, chairs, tables, foods, games and viewers.”
Eianus nods approvingly.
“Why are you all of a sudden so mean, Captain? Is it because my words get you so hot? Or do you like to pretend you're tough when your colleague is around?”
This time the boy responds: “Are you sure you want to pass the time you have left on this spaceship in a restrictive suit?”
“If you want, little boy, go right ahead. Otherwise, you and the Captain could take turns fucking the girls you've wanted your entire life.”
I give Eianus a sign to proceed. After a few minutes, Ipsia's body is immobile against the wall. The restrictive suit covers almost all of her body, except for her face. That face, however, is Alessandra's face.
6
“This is Major Endris, identification number FM-AX-four-nine-five-eight-zero-three. Good morning Captain Bascos. I'm happy to hear you're just a few weeks away from the Forzis maximum security prison. Congratulations to you and Officer Eianus for this excellent capture.”
The Major is a hologram in the middle of the room. We turn our seats towards his figure, which looks so realistic that it's hard to distinguish it from the other bodies in the room.
“Major Endris, it's a pleasure to hear from you. This was an especially complicated mission, we had to change our methodology to track her down. Once again, however, we can say that justice has prevailed over criminality,” I reply.
“Captain, please fill me in on the capture. In your report, you only briefly summarize the events that took place on Mx-311-d.”
I glance at Eianus out of the corner of my eye, he's as embarrassed as I am. It's true, the capture was too easy. After years of chasing after her, it seems as if Ipsia just gave herself to us.
“Major, we pushed the mutant into taking routes we knew would give her a hard time finding adequate supplies for her spaceship. Without any fuel, the mutant had no choice but to land on Mx-311-d, where we tracked her down with our genetic scanners until we finally caught her,” I explain.
“Did she put up any resistance?”
“She tried but, before she could do anything, our microweapo
ns got the better of her. Once she was blocked, we applied the restrictive suit, in which she still remains. The system takes care of her nutrition, via pills, as well as her waste.”
It's not true. That's not what happened. Eianus moves, uncomfortable, on the chair. He avoids looking at both the Major and me.
“Captain, you've done a really fantastic job. I have a new assignment for you. There is evidence that illegal stimulants are being produced on Zr-987-c. You must go to the planet and acquire useful information to report back to command, so that we can decide what to do. You can give Officer Eianus the task of escorting the mutant to prison. A police spaceship will reach you over the next few days so that you can head off to your new assignment.”
“Major, if it's at all possible, I'd like to postpone the new mission for about ten days, so I can bring this criminal to her destination and personally ensure her incarceration.”
“I understand, Captain. And I imagine that you'd like to take credit for this mission in front of the holocameras waiting outside the prison. It was a tougher assignment than I thought, and I don't want to take your due away from you. Let Eianus off so he can go to Zr-987-c to start the job. You can meet up with him in a week. You're a good team and we decided you should continue to work together.”
“Thank you, Major.”
The hologram of the Major disappears. I look at Eianus, who can't hide a pained grimace. I see Ipsia's glowing face out of the corner of my eye.
7
Over the next two days, conversation between Eianus and me trickles off. The tension is palpable in the air. We exchange a few awkward sentences from time to time. Ipsia, however, hums happily. We leave her in her restrictive suit.
Once the Federation of Worlds police spaceship reaches us, we complete the approach maneuver. It's time to say goodbye.
“Congratulations, Officer Eianus, you completed your first mission in an excellent manner. I'll see you in a week. I can't wait to take those dealers out.”
I sound like a proud father, or maybe a bully. I'd rather not talk about the rest.
The boy hesitates a second before answering, as if to gather up his courage.
“Captain, please, bring her to prison.”
“You can bet on it,” I answer.
He was being sincere, I wasn't. Eianus sees something I don't want to see. Is it that obvious? Did he interpret my glances at the mutant as signs of interest? I feel that I should add something but I don't want to appear weak. Maybe I should admit how hard it is to spend every day around the image of the girl I never stopped loving?
“Don't worry, it'll all be okay. I'll see you soon,” I say, simply.
Another hollow sentence, but at least it seems to reassure him. He turns and leaves the cabin. After a few minutes the spaceship he's boarded asks for permission to move away.
“Permission granted,” I answer. “Have a nice trip!”
8
“Ours won't be that bad either, right, Captain?”
She's talking to me. I don't even waste my time turning around.
“Well, Captain, allow me to make you an offer: leave me here, I'll never be able to escape from this kind of cell, but if you take off this suit I can move again and you could look at me again. I'll be very, very good in my nice little studio apartment, and you can enjoy watching me out of the corner of your eye. It wouldn't be all that bad, now, right, Ian?”
It's been a long time since I heard someone say my first name. And it feels like a lifetime since I've heard it come from Alessandra's lips. I can't help but ask her the question: “How did you figure out what she looked like, how her voice sounds, how she moves?” I ask.
“Ian...”
“Captain. To you, I'm Captain Bascos. Get used to it or you'll stay in that suit until you're transferred to prison!”
“Very well, Captain Bascos. I'm a mutant, it was easy for me to contact Alessandra under a false identity for a professional interview. Once we became friends, I had access to all of the lovely videos she likes to put online. They show her with her family: a marvelous husband and four beautiful children. I bet you'd never want to see those, right?”
I don't answer, but she's right: Alessandra was my first girlfriend and my only love. I wanted to live with her, marry her and build a family with her. But my police career took off too quickly. Before I realized what was happening, I was running from one corner of the galaxy to the other chasing down menaces and criminals. She left me via a holomessage and since then I've only had hit and run romances.
“But now your Alessandra is here. You can have her when and how you want her. And when you decide you want another girl or creature, I can make your new fantasy come true. You can come in my cell as you please. We both know that the forcefield is coded to let your DNA through and not mine. If I try to pull anything, I know that a robotic arm will come out of the wall and, in a fraction of a second, punch my lights out. No danger, no hassle. Just a well-deserved reward for the last week we have together.”
“Mutant, I'll take off the restrictive suit but you need to stay absolutely silent for the rest of our time together. If I hear one word out of you, the only part of your body I'll let free will be your nostrils, just so you can breathe.”
One gesture and the system breaks down and retracts Ipsia's suit.
9
Ipsia keeps Alessandra's form. After several days in the restrictive suit, eating food in pill form, she takes pleasure in moving about. She plays a few hologames, asks the system for delicious meals which she eats with gusto, listens to music. Every once in a while she turns towards me, but she keeps the silence I ordered her to.
I don't need to turn towards her. I can observe her movements through the reflections on the panels in front of me. I leave the lights low so that she's visible. Yet even the reflections of her eyes seem to be observing me.
I try to concentrate on studying the route and the system operations. I do remote checks on the state of the spaceship's components. Looking up, I see that Ipsia still has Alessandra's form, but has taken all of her clothes off. This is too much. I approach the cell, furious.
“What's wrong, Captain? Did you hear me speak without authorization?” she asks, with an inviting look.
She's totally nude save for a tiny g-string. Her body is not the same as Alessandra's today, but the body she had when we were young and in love. She's gorgeous. I look at her face, but my eyes move down to her breasts, firm, high, full and perfect. I immediately shift my eyes away.
“Prisoners are kept in appropriate dress. When they do not have the proper clothes, police agents will provide them with such. Would you rather put your clothes back on or get into the restrictive suit?” I ask her, using a neutral tone of voice.
“That's what it says in your nice little police manual, but I did this for you, so that you could admire me and want me and maybe, tonight, once you're in your cabin, you'd think a little about me.”
“You're a prisoner. The only desire I have regarding you is to take you to prison as quickly as possible.”
“Does my presence really bother you that much, Captain?”
“Not at all. But after years of chasing you down, I'm sick and tired of you.”
“Are you sure you're tired of me, Ian?” she asks, coming close to the forcefield using unbearably sensual movements.
“I did not authorize you to call me by my first name.”
“Really, Ian?”
“Syst--” I'm about to order the system to put her back in her restrictive suit, but she holds her hand towards the invisible wall between us.
“Wait!” she says.
“This time you've gone too far!”
“You can touch me, you know? You can put your finger through the forcefield. You can feel this body that you desire more than anything else. You can bring the palm of your hand to my breasts and caress them. And then go down between my thighs. Stay there, but let your hand touch me. There's no danger. You won't have any problems. Do it for you,
Ian. You've sacrificed so much for your police career and maybe you'll never bring another mutant to prison who offers itself to you in this form.”
I stay silent. It's true, I have given up a lot, but what I desire is not the body of a mutant. I miss the love of my youth, what's in front of me is only an illusion. I can't, however, move away from it. I observe her sinuous limbs more closely. I force myself to think that she's not Alessandra. I think about her original form but I stay there, facing her. I approach the forcefield. I lift a hand and touch her with the tip of my finger. She stares intensely into my eyes. I stop. I let my hand fall. I turn around and take a few steps away.
“Ian...” she starts to say.
“Stop it!” I shout in reply.
I quickly go back to her. I plunge my hand through the forcefield, feeling the slight tingle on my skin, and violently slap Ipsia. I don't know why I did it. I look down. I want to apologize, but I say nothing.
“Fantastic,” she says. “You've finally started to relax a little.”
My hand is still there. She takes it into hers and slowly brings it to her breast, staring straight into my eyes. I want to let her do as she pleases. I've already stopped resisting. I only want those breasts, that body, that being. I'm not interested in anything else. I want her and I want to possess her, but I pull my hand back and leave the control room, beside myself with rage.
10
I spend the next few hours doing chores, without looking once towards the cell. I enter and leave the control room heading directly towards the other door. I now look at the forcefield, which closes off the cell, like any other of the many walls on this spaceship. Enough! This whole thing with the mutant went much too far. She's a monster, an illusion, a copy of the person who's really in my heart. She's like a bad witch who takes on the form of the beautiful princess in fairy tales for kids. Soon, in just a few more days, I'll finally unload her in a maximum security prison, where she'll stay for the rest of her days.