I hear other alien voices now, and it occurs to me that I can’t be sure those silvery aliens are the only ones on the planet. It’d be very stupid of me to assume the planet’s population was homogenous. This silver male might be delivering me to an insect alien or something equally terrifying, which is why he wants me to wear the veil.

He touches my wrist to indicate I should stay and says something in the alien language. I stop walking, although I can hear him walking away and more alien voices in the distance, his voice joining theirs.

I see no reason to run. I’m on an alien planet, and I’ve no idea where I am or how to speak to anyone.

About five minutes pass, and then I hear the sound of females talking. They come closer to me. I can almost feel them around me. Then my veil comes off, and I’m surprised to see silver females with elvish ears and long white hair, and I can see by their faces; they’re also surprised to see me. I want to say, ‘Ha, you didn’t expect a human under here, did you?’ But I say nothing because, at that moment, I assume that they can’t understand me.

These females look like the male who brought me here, so I’ll refer to them now as Silvers. The females take my hand and guide me into a building that looks like a massive modern farmhouse. I can’t help but be overwhelmed with the modernness of it compared to any human house or technology I’ve ever seen before.

The females lead me into what I assume is a bathroom. It’s a large room that smells of a kind of soap. They strip off my purple tunic and trousers that are still damp with my urine and urge me into a corner. Suddenly a sort of white foam begins falling from the ceiling. I realize when it touches my skin, it’s a mixture of steam and soap. Curiously, the females watch me as I rub my hair and underarms trying to clean myself. I can tell by their expressions that this pleases them. I want to say to them, ‘I’m not an animal. I know how to keep clean.’ But again, I say nothing.

The warm steam feels so good I don’t mind standing in it as I survey the Silver females. Their eyes are big and blue but not unkind. Their ears are pointed and thick, but otherwise, these aliens look very humanoid, allowing me to relax a little. I also cannot deny that I’m relieved I’m with females. This isn’t to say that rape by an alien male isn’t in my future, but at least I know it’s not happening right now. Nor do these females look particularly unhappy.

After a while, one of the females turns off the shower, and I frown.

She pats me on the head as if I am a child or pet and then escorts me into a drying area of the bathroom. The whole wall I’m standing next to now heats up to dry me instantly. It is insanely nice and superior to drying with any cotton towel. I put my whole body against the heat, and again, I want to stay here forever. I close my eyes and pray silently to a god I might’ve left behind on Earth, ‘Please don’t let this be a bad place.’