Tia felt her eyes opening, then she saw Colleen smiling at her. Her head came forward, and they pressed lips together, gently, holding it, both of them feeling the warmth of their lips. Colleen broke the kiss, with a look of dismay.
"If we weren't surrounded by a room full of women, who are now waking up, I'd want to do a lot more to you baby," Colleen whispered, stroking her cheek.
"I'd be all over you like a cheap suit, I assure you," Tia agreed, smoothing Colleen's long red hair back.
They threw back the covers and quickly got dressed. The viewscreen came to life, and the face of Kal-sek smiled at them.
"Good morning ladies, the dining area is ready with a hearty breakfast, enjoy, and our team will be around very soon, to assess your talents, and give you a suitable task to work at."
Tia and Colleen could smell the delicious aromas, and at the buffet, another feast awaited them. Scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages, bacon, waffles, toast, danish pastry, a table full of fresh fruit, and steaming pots of coffee. Tia surmised that the Calto race had studied them very well during the month of unconsciousness, and she dug into her breakfast with gusto, Colleen matching her enthusiasm, as she attacked her breakfast with equal vigor.
Tia looked at her watch, it was just past 8 AM. At 8:30, one of the walls opened, and they got their first up-close look at the Calto race. They looked fairly human, there were minor differences, like Caltos having 4 fingers, and larger eyes and arched ridges over the eyes. The body shape was similar enough, and Tia felt herself relaxing. Although she scoffed at the idea of pulp science fiction stories of "little green men", she was relieved to see that they weren't that different, or grotesque.
Two of the beings stopped in front of her, and their eyes seemed to size her up quickly. They turned to each other and spoke in their native language to each other. They gave the same look to Colleen and again exchanged incomprehensible language.
Changing over to the English language, one of them said to Tia, "I am Gal-tor, and my companion is Con-set. What is your name, please?"
She answered, "I am Tia Amadore."
Con-set asked Colleen for her name, which she quickly gave. She was in no mood to try and make trouble, she had a feeling that they would brook no dissent.
Their names were fed into a handheld device, that resembled a tablet-style computer. The aliens looked at the readout, nodded, and Gal-tor said, "Come with us please."
Colleen stiffened, and Tia was not exactly feeling reassured either. The exchange had not gone unnoticed, as Kal-sek, who had been watching from the view screen, said, "Tia Amadore, and Colleen Hamner, look at me please."
As they did so, he continued, "Remember what I said yesterday. If we had wanted you dead, we would not be having this conversation, as you both would no longer be alive. We are not here to mistreat you. You will not be tortured or used in horrible medical experimentation. Your own kind has done that, the history of mankind is rife with such barbarity. We are not like that, you are just to be assessed for your strengths so that your work will be of the greatest benefit."
The way he said it, and his expression touched a chord deep inside Tia. She had a strong feeling that he was sincere and that she and Colleen were not in danger. She looked at Colleen, smiled reassuringly, and said, "We'll be okay, we can trust him."