An 'ideal' Maria

The first thing that caught Maria's eyes was...well, everything.

First there was her hair. It had never been long in the first place, and she had all but shaved it off when she had joined the service. Now, though, it was long and straight and shiny and...Maria ran her fingers through it. It was absolutely soft and beautiful, and reached to the small of her back.

And her body. Maria had always been proud of her body. She was fit and athletic, if a bit on the small side. She was still 1.57 meters tall, but her other measurements seemed to have changed dramatically. Maria cupped her now larger but still amazingly firm breasts, and seemed to have grown two sizes from her previous 'A' cups. Her hips were no longer boyish; when she turned to check out her bottom, it was both shapely and fit. Her stomach was still flat, and all the scars she had accumulated over the years were gone. Her skin was both smooth and flawless. Her pubic hair was trimmed into a pattern that was know on her home world as a "landing strip."

In short, Maria had been transformed into the ideal version of herself.

"How..." Maria asked the empty air, though she wasn't sure what she wanted to ask.

'You were injured' the voice in her head answered. 'When we repaired you, we used the image in your mind that you have always desired to be. Now, there are other things we need to learn about you, Maria.'

That last comment seemed rather ominous. The panic that Maria had felt earlier threatened to return.

'Be at ease, Maria. We mean you no harm. And we promise you no harm will come to you, at least not while you remain with us. But you represent our first chance to learn about your species, and what your presence on our planet means to us. And what plans we must make."

Maria had not thought her experience all the way through. Humanity had run into other intelligent species, of course, but initial contact had always been carefully planned in advance, and handled by experts. And no alien species had prevented Humankind's unchecked spread across the cosmos, fracturing into different politcal entities in the process.

Who would have thought a new intelligent alien species could be discovered beneath the surface of a backwater planet used for a P.O.W. camp? Or that it would be a prison guard who would make that first contact?

Maria waited for the voice in her head to begin its questioning.