Waking up

When Pike woke up, Vina was gone. He dressed and began exploring his cell again. As enticing as it was to fulfill his fantasies, he still had to get back to the ship. He had no idea what danger they were in with the Talosian telepathy.

A small door in the wall opened and a hand reached in to leave a tall glass of fluid. It closed before the captain could get to it. He looked toward the transparency and saw the Magistrate.

The Magistrate spoke out loud, "The vial contains a nourishing protein complex."

"Is the zookeeper actually communicating with one of his animals?" Pike said. He filled his mind with images of **** and hatred, testing his theory.

"If the form and the color is not appealing, it can appear as any food you wish to visualise.

"And if I prefer..." said Pike.

"To starve? You overlook the unpleasant alternative of punishment," said the alien.

Pike found himself surrounded by fire and burning sulfer. His body was wracked with pain, and he screamed. Then he was back in the cell.

"From a fable you once heard in childhood. You will now consume the nourishment," said the Magistrate.

"Why not just put irresistible hunger in my mind? Because you can't, can you? You do have limitations, don't you?" He kept thinking of beating the Magistrate to a pulp.

"If you continue to disobey, from deeper in your mind, there are things even more unpleasant," the Magistrate said sternly.

In disgust, Pike drank the nourishment, then launched himself at the glass wall. The Magistrate stepped back in surprise, eyes wide.

"That's very interesting," Pike said.

"Now to the female," the alien started.

"You were startled. Weren't you reading my mind then?"

"As you've conjectured, an Earth vessel did crash on our planet, but with only a single survivor," continued the Magistrate.

"No, let's stay on the first subject. All I wanted for that moment was to get my hands around your neck," Pike said with disgust.

"We repaired the survivor's injuries and found your species interesting."

"Do primitive violent thoughts put up a block you can't read through?" Pike posited.

"It became necessary to attract a mate," said the Magistrate.

"All right, all right, let's talk about the girl. You seem to be going out of your way to make her attractive, to make me feel protective," Pike replied.

"This is necessary in order to perpetuate the species."

"It seems more important to you now that I begin to accept her and like her," Pike replied.

"We wish our specimens to be happy in their new life," the alien said.

"Assuming that's a lie, why would you want me attracted to her? So I'll feel love in a husband-wife relationship? That would be necessary only if you intend to build a family group or perhaps a whole human community," he said with anger.

Without answering, the Magistrate left.