Just talk with Carrie

"The aliens can wait," Jason said with a shrug. "But after what I saw, I'm not exactly sleepy anymore. Maybe we just stay up and talk for a bit?"

Carrie blinked, staring at Jason. "You have access to discuss anything you want with beings from a thousand light-years away and you want to chat with me? I mean, uh, I guess. No offense or anything, I'm just surprised, if I were in your position, I'd probably immediately ignore the fact that you existed and immediately ask the aliens to take over. How about you go heat up one of those tasty dinners for us, and I'm going to go put on a clean shirt since I didn't see wherever Aleph discarded mine from earlier. Then... yeah, we'll talk."

Jason walked into the kitchen area, noticing a lot of dishes left on the counters and in the sink. Carrie seemed like the kind of person who would get so wrapped up in her work, or her experiments with these aliens that could possess and control her body, that dishes were an afterthought. Fortunately, Jason was able to find little microwaveable mac and cheese cups, putting them in the ancient looking microwave and hoping he didn't get irradiated by this relic.

Taking two cans of soda and the mac and cheese dinners to the table so the two occupants of the observatory could enjoy a 'meal' together, if one could call it that, Jason sat down and waited for Carrie to return. She strolled back, pulling her blonde hair out from the hoodie as she adjusted the cozy-looking garment on her body.

"Ah, much better," Carrie said. "I mean, for me at least. You probably got a really good look, which, well, I hoped you like it while it lasted? I'm not going to show off any more tonight, that's more Aleph's thing."

Jason blushed a little and turned away. "I'd be lying if I said your body wasn't stunning. I just wouldn't have expected a sight like that my first night here."

Sipping the soda, Carrie chuckled. "Aleph is so used to having free roam of this place over the past month when Brenda finally up and left that I guess I couldn't convince them to stay put in the bedroom. I mean, if it bothers you, I'll get Beta to handle it, but if not, well, it probably won't be the last time something like that happens. Just, don't judge me, okay? It's a weird situation, but I like those little critters a ton, they're helpful in their weird ways and letting Aleph make me touch myself in front of strangers is oddly a small price to pay for the benefits. I basically have research projects lined up for years because of them, things they already know the solution to, but which will advance our understanding of astronomy so much in the next few years."

Jason dug into his mac and cheese, taking a bite. It tasted stale, but whatever, it was better than nothing. "Isn't that a little boring though? Just regurgitating answers to the higher-ups?"

"It's not like that's all I'm doing here," Carrie said through her laughs. "I just get to conduct my own research and follow up on theories in the meantime, not just the things the CEO wants. Like, okay. You know how there's no green stars?"

Jason looked at Carrie oddly. "What do you mean, no green stars? Why wouldn't there be?"

"Oh, right, you're a data guy, not an astronomer." Carrie stirred idly at her mac and cheese, not ready to endure the taste of it. "It's because every star generates a wide range of colors on the spectrum, and they mix together. Red stars generate a lot of infrared rays; blue stars emit a lot of ultraviolet. If you shift the color bands in the middle of that, where green would be on the spectrum? Well, you get white, because the star is basically generating every color. The only way you would get green is if an alien civilization purposefully put a giant filter around their star so it would emit only green light. That's what I'm looking for in my data, even though I got shot down earlier when I proposed it, because my boss said some dumb stuff about how if we can't just look up and see green stars then that must mean it hasn't been done. But lots of stars are faint or drowned out by the light of other stars so it needs a closer look! There's still a lot of sky to search through, and if I find one, Aleph and Beta said they'd confirm the results so I can publish a paper on it."

"Okay, well that's actually pretty interesting. Maybe you'll get lucky."

Carrie leaned back in her chair. "I prefer persistent, myself."

For a while, the duo ate in silence, but Jason was still inquisitive. "So, did you always want to work for ETSA?"

"The idea of searching for aliens with a last name like Roswell is either an easy sell or a living nightmare depending on who you ask in my family. I'd always stargazed with my mom, and the question of alien life always interested me. ETSA wasn't my first choice for an astronomer gig, though, it just happened to be the one that was hiring after I got my degree at SCU. And there's no way I'm going to go on any more job searches, I'd rather freeze my butt off up on the mountain than sit in a room and endure eight-hour interviews just to find out I wasn't even close to being considered for the job."

Carrie and Jason chatted for quite a while about whatever came to mind. Work, hobbies, favorite card games since most of the board games in the nearby cabinet were missing enough pieces to make them unplayable, the two talked about all sorts of things as the night went on. Surprisingly, the only topic that hadn't come up was the aliens themselves. Jason didn't see the need, given that they were going to spend months together at the observatory and he'd likely learn everything he needed to know about them on the go. So long as they weren't going to do anything dangerous, he'd eventually get a grasp on whatever they could do.

"Wow, it's getting late," Carrie said, looking at the old clock on the wall. "I should get some rest, I've got a work call in the morning. Goodnight, Jason."

Carrie stood up, taking a few steps down the hall, before she turned around. "And... thank you. I've gotta admit, it feels nice to talk about myself with someone. Even the last crew here wasn't interested in chit chat, and Aleph and Beta are fun but it's different when I converse with them about things. I like my weird life, y'know? But I like the occasional bit of normalcy too, I guess." Carrie smiled at Jason. "I was worried that whoever showed up here would only care about the aliens and forget about the person they're controlling, if they weren't just totally freaked out. It'll be nice having a friend around here that remembers I still exist. Rest well."

Carrie headed to bed, and Jason eventually made his way to his own room. This place was going to be a total rollercoaster for him, but at least it felt like he was getting off to a good start.