Beta

“Again,” came the command.

“Yes, sir,” grumbled Eric. He knew what the outcome would be, but he set up the testing apparatus again. Being a lowly tech meant no one would pay his prediction any mind.

“Is it ready?” asked the officer with stars on his shoulder.

“Yes, sir,” repeated Eric as he verified the last strap was still secure. He gave it a pat and stepped back to his console. “Increasing by 1000 amps.” He pressed the button and the test began.

The creature was subjected to enough amperage to kill a person a thousand times over, but its single, purple eye stared impassively at the group of military personnel observing it.

Heat, cold, acid, blunt force, now electricity, couldn’t kill it. Nothing seemed to phase the otherworldly creature in their custody. Eric could have told them that it was futile, nothing could kill this thing because it wasn’t alive. Not by 3rd dimensional definitions, anyway.

It had told Eric so after the first test they had run, all those months ago, but didn’t bother mentioning it to anyone else. Eric desperately wanted to get the creature out. Everyone called it an alien, but it wasn’t. It was from Earth, just at a different vibration. It had the most beautiful poetry, music, limericks, and philosophy that Eric had ever heard, all projected directly into his mind.

It kept telling Eric to be patient, so he was. Their love could wait.