Shock and fear, before he’s taken

Callum stared up into the blinding white light fixed on him from the sky above, his mind racing at what felt like a million miles an hour. What was this? A spotlight? Ball lightning? Or something else? Peering into the glare, he swore he could see something beyond the light, a shape hanging there against the starry night sky. He tried to raise his hand to shield his eyes, only to find his arm didn’t even twitch. Nor did his legs when he tried to turn away, or even his neck. In fact, his entire body felt like it just wasn’t obeying his wishes anymore.

The young man only had time to feel a brief flicker of panic over this strange paralysis, before he realised something even more alarming was happening. Somehow, without even realising it he’d ended up floating a few feet off the ground, hovering there helplessly in the beam of light. He tried to thrash in place and struggle free, but nothing happened. It was only because he’d read so much that it suddenly occurred to him just how similar this was to all those stupid stories of people getting **** by aliens.

This was a dream, it had to be. His silly ideas of meeting an alien for himself one day had gotten stuck in his mind. This was just a dream, nothing to be frightened of. Callum still tried as hard as he could to scream as the beam suddenly drew him in, his body floating up into the air like a helpless doll. The light got brighter and brighter, until all he could see was blinding white, all he could feel was the rush of cold air whipping past his skin.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Callum landed face-first on something soft and yielding, the air knocked out of his body in a strangled yelp. He twitched weakly, enough to let him realise he was able to move again. It took a moment, but the young man managed to get his trembling arms underneath him and lift his chest up off this strange, soft surface. His bleary gaze darted over a large, circular room he was now lying in. The walls looked like some kind of odd, green metal, covered in weird etched markings that curled and wound around each other like coiling vines. The floor underneath was deep-red in colour, looking like smooth, polished tiles, but it gave under his weight like a soft foam mattress.

Callum struggled awkwardly to his feet, finding it hard to even stand on this strange surface. What the hell was this? He’d had weird dreams before, but never one quite this strange or vivid. He could even smell this faintly pleasant scent in the air, like a nice perfume or something. His heart pounding, he took a halting step forward.

A flicker of movement from his right made him yelp in shock. Turning his head, he saw what looked like a long silver…tentacle, coiling down from the ceiling of the room. There was a bright pink light shining from the rounded end, and a glassy orb set into the metal that reminded him of a camera lens somehow. It flicked around toward him, moving slowly up and down like it was getting a good look. Was someone…watching him through there? The way his skin tingled definitely made it feel that way.

“Hello?” Callum stammered, hoping the tentacle was friendly. The strange thing made no response, apart from moving closer to his face. The young man watched as it swayed slowly from side to side like a snake, bathing him in the strange pink glow shining from the end. There...was something almost calming in it’s sinuous movements, and he felt his pounding heart ease. He was so focused on watching the strange tentacle, he didn’t even notice another pair slowly uncoiling from holes in the ceiling above his head.

This time, when the tentacles lashed out and wrapped tightly around his wrists, Callum was very much able to scream, his high-pitched, piercing shrieks echoing around the room. He tried to pull away, but the bindings had no give to them. As if in response to his helpless struggles, the tentacles yanked on his arms, effortlessly pulling his wrists out and then up. The young man was left spread-eagled, his slender body dangling on tip-toes as the pair of tentacles coiled up his arms to hold him even more firmly. Even through his pounding terror, the young man still noticed that the coiling bindings were never painful or rough. They just made absolutely sure he could not escape, keeping him grasped between them and helpless to resist. If he was still dreaming, it had just turned into some kind of nightmare.

The tentacle in front of him was still gazing at him, and even through that glassy, honeycomb lens fixed on his face he was sure he could sense it was...appraising him somehow. Was this thing alive? It almost seemed that way by the sinuous way it slowly uncurled from the ceiling. And the ones that were wrapped around his arms felt warm and soft against his skin.

“Please...let me go.” He stammered, hoping that this creature could somehow understand him. The tentacle gave no response, continuing to slowly sway up and down as it stared at his bound, helpless body.

*******************************************************

From her nearby observation room Phaedra smiled to herself in triumph as she observed her prize through her mental link with the psionic tendril. Done without a hitch! While of course these primitives couldn’t hope to threaten her, it was still so much bother whenever one of them happened to notice her ship. To preserve the sanctity of her experiments, she had to psychically modify the memories of anyone who saw something they shouldn’t, and that tended to leave the creatures in a bit of a state.

This time though, she’d managed to snare her Callum without incident. And because of his adorable solitary habits, it would be some time before anyone even realised the silly thing was missing at all. He was hers to play with as she pleased…by which of course she meant strictly using him to advance her research, and nothing else!

Like almost all Alfonian technology, the restraining tendrils she had deployed to keep her prize secure had a core of crystalline psychite, highly sensitive to psychic impulses. They were controlled entirely by her mental abilities, moving as she wished like they were own limbs, and it had been with some relish that she’d directed the tendrils to snare her cute new research subject and display him for her. Perhaps it was because he was finally in her hands, but Callum looked even more adorable dangling there by his wrists, laid out for her like a very special centuryday treat.

She could tell he was frightened, his trembling and whimpering made that obvious enough. Beneath her strictly scientific interest at seeing him laid out like this for thorough observation, the Executrix felt a flicker of sympathy at how clearly scared the adorable human was. She knew she could go and comfort him directly before beginning the suite of delicious tests and probing she had extensively planned out for him, but these restraining tendrils had so many interesting features she had yet to test. She could direct them to strip him bare with just a thought, deploy more to snare his legs as well, then lift him up into the air and move his naked body as she pleased for her to gawp at. Perhaps she could even slide one between his legs and begin her exploratory stimulation of his reproductive organs, strictly for scientific purposes of course. The thought sent a tingling heat through her lower body, making her shift in the air and bite her lower lip eagerly. The question was, did she toy with him a bit more with these tendrils or was it time to reveal herself to him in person?