A few days later--but even Carrie doesn't really know

A few days later, Carrie was finally ready to reveal the big secret to Jason. After a day of data processing in the observatory where the two pored over data and debated whether a signal from a certain region of space would be unique enough to not come from a natural source of radio emissions, Carrie finally motioned for Jason to follow her.

"Okay, so, I do have a big thing to show you," Carrie said as she stopped in front of a door that she'd told Jason was off-limits. "Are you ready to learn the truth about me?"

Jason hesitated, thinking that there was something off about how Carrie was acting already, but he looked at her--trying not to spend too much time looking at the expansive cleavage she was showing off with her button-up blouse--and nodded.

"I'm ready for anything."

"Right, well, be prepared." Carrie opened the door, stepping inside, and turning on the lights.

Jason's eyes went wide at what he saw when he entered the room, but he tilted his head and shrugged. Looking around the room, he noticed some books that said Damsels and Druids, Game Master Guidebook, as well as scores of dice, little miniatures on a table, and a ton of decorations befitting a castle more than an observatory. With a PC and webcam, and even some costumes hanging on the far wall, it was all starting to become clear.

"I'm... obsessed with tabletop gaming," she said. "I know it's bizarre, but--"

"It's not, though," Jason said with a shrug.

Carrie had her eyes shut tight, but she opened one up. "Wait, it's not?"

Jason shrugged again. "I played in college, if I had a group I'd be playing now. I mean, sure, you get really into it by the looks of it... is this a velour cape?" Jason asked, touching one of the garments on the wall.

Carrie sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness! All the other coworkers I had up here thought I was obsessed, or possessed by demons or something, because of this game. So... yeah, okay, I guess it's not that bad then, huh?"

Jason laughed, as he looked around the room at some of the very intricately painted miniatures. "No, it's not bad at all, lots of people do this stuff these days, so it's really not that big of a--"

"Jason."

Hearing his name come from Carrie, he for some reason didn't recognize her saying it. She sounded strange when she did, so he turned toward her, and saw something very unusual. Carries eyes were glowing a solid green! Jason jumped back a bit, startled by the look. Not only were her eyes green, but some of her hair now appeared silvery in color, creating this unique two-tone look. Jason grinned once he saw the look. "Wow, you get even more into it than I thought. Glow-in-the-dark contacts? How'd you get a wig on so fast? Are you trying to recruit me into your sessions?"

Carrie smiled, taking a seat on a chair. Her voice still sounded strange when she spoke, almost like there was somebody speaking in unison with her. "Recruitment? Yes, of a sort. Not for the game though. Even Carrie doesn't know the truth about what's been happening around here with herself."

Jason paused, furrowing his brow as he looked at his coworker, sitting down himself. Maybe Carrie's obsession with the game had been better off as a secret? "You know, I know people get really into the roleplay aspect of this, but this is a little unusual."

"Oh, it is definitely unusual," Carrie said with a smile, "but it's not roleplay. I'm an entity living in Carrie, using her body in order to recover and rebuild my spacecraft from a crash landing. For simplicity's sake, let's call myself... Alice."

Jason shook his head, rolling his eyes. "I'm not going to fall for some prank, Carrie."

"Are the glowing eyes not enough? Fine," 'Alice' said, as she opened her mouth up widely. When she did, a strange green and gooey slug-like creature slid up her throat and out her mouth, its eyestalks staring at Jason. Seeing this, Jason almost fell out of his seat, scrambling backwards! Carrie's face simply calmly stared at Jason, as did the alien protrusion from her mouth that stuck out by a few inches, squealing in some otherworldly language. After a couple more moments, the alien head slid back into Carrie's body. Jason could see a little lump traveling down her throat and along a bit of her cleavage before disappearing.

"What the hell was THAT?!" Jason said, gasping for air as his heart raced from the panic.

Alice sighed, leaning Carrie's body over. "See, this is why I wish your species were just more trusting, I don't like doing that trick when someone isn't expecting it, but the eyes are never enough! Look, the short story is that I have used my nanite-based assistant to modify Carrie's body into a vehicle for myself. When she came to investigate our crash-landing, I climbed inside her body, and we altered her memories of what she saw to think it was merely an asteroid impact. That's what she thinks is locked away in that garage in the back, but it's really my spacecraft. Anyway, right now I'm bridged with Carrie's mind, so between her brain and mine with some nanites thrown in, I'm able to use her body as I please, whenever I want, and she will merely think some other events occurred."

Jason frowned, taking a few moments to just stare at Carrie, or Alice, as she twirled her hair in her finger. He looked at her eyes, the silvery hair, the change in personality and demeanor, and as far as he knew, he couldn't deny that something was indeed controlling Carrie to act differently. "If you're using her body and she doesn't just know it since you're altering her consciousness or whatever, why tell me about it? Why not tell her?"

"No, that doesn't ever work out well," Alice said, tilting her head as she looked at Jason. "Especially not with a 'true believer' type like her. Some of my contacts on this planet have told me as much, at least. When hosts discover they'd been piloted by aliens, it makes it so they start to question every waking moment to know if they're in their dreamworld or not, and then when they figure it out, the connection gets disrupted, and I lose control. That makes it practically impossible for us to blend in and continue to study Earth to figure out whether we can trust humans enough to reveal ourselves publicly. Whatever body I'm in can't be made to know I'm in it, so I need a partner or handler or whatever you want to call it."

Jason tilted his head, as he listened. "A handler?"

"That's right." With a smile, Alice leaned forward, letting Carrie's cleavage droop in front of Jason. "That's why I hired you--and before you say it was ETSA, it was definitely me. Your data science work is good, but Carrie doesn't really need you here, she's quite adept at her job. But what she does need? A friend. I think you'll make a good one for her. And I need someone to help maintain illusions I've set up, it's much easier when someone is around to confirm that she was just playing make-believe with her miniatures and let her imagination get the better of her."

Jason rubbed his face, shaking his head as he turned away, still disbelieving this whole situation could be real. It took him some time to turn back. "That's a really big ask. I don't know that I could do that to Carrie. I like her a lot."

"You don't just like her, you are attracted to her," Alice said with a grin. "To this body. I know, I can tell. I'd built advanced pheromone detectors into her body, and I know that her body is the same, although her mind... well, Carrie is fiercely independent when it comes to romantic situations, she doesn't want any part with them. So, I'm going to make you an offer, one that helps her in a roundabout way: you help maintain the illusion, and I'll use whatever body I'm occupying to do whatever you want. Any activity, without question."

To demonstrate her commitment, Alice started to unbutton Carrie's blouse, revealing a silvery-colored bra contained within. "These legs? Yours. These hips, yours, this face, yours. These breasts... well, I reside in the breasts with my nanite counterpart, so they are partly mine and that's why they are so large, but on the outside, they're yours! Carrie's body needs the attention anyway, she craves it and fantasizes about it, yet she wants to avoid getting close to someone to get it. She doesn't want romance or anything, but she also doesn't want to just have casual sexual relations with someone, despite her body yearning for it. That's where I come in... I'll give her body the release it needs while also doing my own work, you'll be getting something very special from me, and Carrie can continue to live oblivious to my existence so you and her can be the best of friends. All you have to do for now is play along, with whatever body I'm in."

Jason rubbed at his own face again, looking at Carrie's body as Alice removed her blouse entirely, leaving herself in just her bra and pants. Alice leaned forward again, running her hands along the breasts to showcase them to Jason. "What do you say?" Alice asked. "This should be a no-brainer, Jason. I will show you incredible things, and everyone will be happy in the end."