- Major John Skokes has been captured and imprisoned by enemy aliens. He finds he is not alone in his cell, however, but with a cadet, Bree Tristan, from the Europa base. She believes three months have gone by since her imprisonment and she has a skin graft on her arm which she believes is the aliens' attempt to transform her into one of them. Skokes believes the war is over for them and their only job now is to find away to escape. As the aliens continue their experiments on Bree, the two prisoners develop a tenderness for one another. When they realize their attempts at escape are futile, John gives her hope for the future of mankind, which she desperately wants to hear.—garykmcd
- Major John Skokes is a leader for the Earth military. Earth has been at war with an alien race that is technologically superior, physically stronger, and more ruthless than humans at humanity's worst. The war has been going very badly for Earth, and now Skokes has found himself a prisoner of the alien race.
He's cast into a filthy, dank cell well below ground. His cell mate is a young woman who identifies herself as Cadet Bree Tristan, and says she was captured on a training flight. The aliens do not distinguish between male and female humans and treat her no better than they've treated Skokes.
For the most part, Skokes and Tristan are left to their own devices in the cell, until an alien jailer opens the door and throws in two large centipide-like creatures about the size of a human forearm. Skokes watches them scuttle madly about the cell until Tristan catches one, rips off its head and squeezes the carcass, pouring its insides down her throat. Skokes is disgusted, and Tristan says it took her several days before she realized it was the only food they were giving her.
Two alien jailers enter the cell and seize Tristan, dragging her away as she struggles and screams in terror. Skokes tries to protect her, but he is no match for the strength of one of the aliens, let alone two. Some hours later they throw Tristan back in the cell, where she huddles against a wall crying in fear. Skokes sees that the aliens have begun doing some kind of horrible experiment on her; they appear to have grafted samples of their own skin onto hers.
Over the course of several days the aliens continue dragging Tristan away and then returning her to the cell. Each day, her appearance is becoming more and more alien like. The jailers continue to throw the centipede like creatures into the cell and Tristan shows Skokes how to catch them and consume them. During their long hours alone together in the cell they start to bond and Skokes starts to have feelings for Tristan. He laments that he cannot protect her from the jailers and the horrific experiments the aliens are performing on her.
One day the aliens stop dragging Tristan away, and it appears they are going to leave her and Skokes to die in the cell of starvation and thirst. Coming to terms with his fate, Skokes starts to kiss Tristan and confides in her that before he was captured, Earth had amassed its fleets for a major tactical strike offensive that they were sure would take the aliens off-guard and unprepared. If the strike went exactly as planned, there was a chance it could turn the tide of the whole war and put the alien race on the defensive.
The two jailers come into the cell. Tristan quietly gets up and begins to go submissively with them. In an act of sacrifice, Skokes pleads with the aliens to take him instead.
Suddenly Tristan turns around, her face and voice expressionless. She tells Skokes that he doesn't understand the truth. The aliens aren't changing her at all... but changing her BACK.
Tristan leaves the cell with the jailers, who lock the door again behind them. Skokes stares in disbelief as he understands the terrible truth: Tristan is part of the alien race, transformed to look human to probe Skokes for military intelligence... and he had just told her of an Earth offensive that could save his people. Now the aliens would have time to prepare for it and crush the offensive completely. The closing narration is spoken as Skokes screams in anguish; understanding he may have doomed his planet and his race to annihilation.
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