Tentacle

As Number Twelve felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder, she braced herself for excrutiating pain. She had not planned to wake up at all. She had assumed the fall would have killed her. Since it had left her alive, she assumed she must have literally dozens of broken bones.

Waking up, though, she felt better than she had ever felt in her life.

She gasped as she saw what had woken her up. A green tentacle had nudged her shoulder. Several more were helping her up. Perhaps it would be fairer to call them vines rather than tentacles, as they had tiny leaves on them, and seemed to be coming from the tangled growth that was on the walls around her.

'Vines would be a fairer comparison,' a voice in her head replied.

That...that sounded like it came from my head, Number Twelve thought to herself.

'Yes it did, Maria' the voice said. Number Twelve felt herself starting to panic. Her name was indeed Maria Cervantes but, as soon as she had been assigned as a guard at the P.O.W. camp, she had been indoctrinated to think and represent herself only as Number Twelve. It had been three years since she had been assigned to this planet. She had almost forgotten her own name. How did this voice know her name?

'Be at ease, Maria. We mean you no harm. Indeed, we have gone to great effort to insure that the vessel you inhabit was repaired and more.'

I must have been injured from the fall, Maria thought to herself. But I feel fine now!

'You are indeed very healthy, Maria. But come, do not take our word for it. See for yourself.'

The vines helped Maria to her feet and then lowered a polished piece of glass in front of her, allowing her to see her entire body. Maria stared in wonder at her reflection.