EXTRACT FOR
Goddess Xindra
(Crimson Rose)

Vision slowly returning, Xindra found herself standing in a large room with walls and ceiling made of an oil-slick metal and decorated with furniture of no earthly make. Off to the right she saw an eight drawer dresser made of the same material as the walls with what appeared to be polished silver handles and attached mirror. Straight ahead a bed large enough for six people was nestled in an oddly-shaped frame. "W-Where am I? How did we get here?" she demanded to know as she pulled herself away from Mistress Rylona.

"This is going to be a lot, but I swear that I mean you no harm," Rylona said as she took several steps back.

"I don't know what's going on, but you picked the wrong person to kidnap!" And with that, Xindra thought of her private office at the Beastlands and then mentally activated the translocation implant that would take her there, but nothing happened.

"Your implants won't work here," Rylona said as her panther-like form began to morph into something wholly alien. Still humanoid with two arms and two legs, her feline tail grew to nearly twice its former length. Fur retracted into skin - peachy on the front and lower half of her mostly human but slightly elongated face and shades of blue and purple everywhere else including her cheeks, nose and long, finned ears.  But it was the wings that caused Xindra to sharply inhale.

"W-What are you? Where are we? If you mean me harm I will not go down easy!"

"I... we mean you no harm. You're aboard the... the closest translation would be the Celestial Wraith and I'm the ship's chief xenobiologist, Aransha. Our species are the Vauthians and we hail from Vauthinia five located some four billion lightyears from earth. We've been studying humanity for years and when I discovered the existence of a woman named Vauthia I knew we had finally found our savior. And after watching your many exploits I knew I was right."

"My name isn't Vauthia."

"Maybe not now, but it's the name you were given at birth. You are the offspring of former president Carolyn stone and Director of the B.F.A. Ryxia Stone - the former human and the latter a leopard-type furtasian like yourself. I can see my knowledge concerns you. Please, feel free to ask me anything and I give my word that I'll answer as honestly as I can."

"Why aren't my implants working?"

"Please correct me if I'm wrong but your translocation implant has a maximum distance of approximately thirty thousand allowing you to go anywhere on Earth. If you'll look out the window you'll see we're significantly further away. Iris open." No sooner was the command uttered, then a round section of wall opened to reveal the deep darkness of space.

Cautiously approaching the window, Xindra looked out to see the enormous ringed planet Saturn and its 146 moons. "W-What the hell? You translocated us hundreds of millions of miles?"

"I have. And I'm actively jamming your implant to prevent you translocating into space."

"You said you've been studying humanity. Why? And how have you remained undetected?"

"I mean no offense, but your technology is millennia behind ours. As for why we're studying humanity, well, why does anyone study anything else? Scientific curiosity and the hope of meeting another friendly species."