Project Khepri: Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Chapter 4: Therapy

Molly Simon pushed her badge against the door pad. With a quiet beep, the door clicked open, admitting her to the gymnasium and the training facility.

Really, calling it that was a bit much in her opinion. It had an itty bitty wading pool and a bunch of resistance bands. The whole place was for PT. If you wanted to exercise, you went to the rec room.

Of course, Simon wasn’t here to relax or get her beach bod (She already had the beach bod, thank you very much). Instead, she gave a wave to the attending nurse and meandered over to the parallel bars thing that they had next to the wall. Khepri was working her way through them, hand over hand, legs trembling as she slowly relearned to walk. Girl looked like a pile of twigs held together by sinew and spite, but already, after about a month, the muscle was starting to come back to her emaciated frame.

“There you go.” The PM&R doc took Khepri’s hands as she finished the lap, helping the tall woman turn and sit in a nearby wheelchair. “That’s a noticeable improvement from last week.” The doctor was a woman taller even than Khepri, all the better for helping her get around. God knows Simon wasn’t gonna carry anyone.

“I feel like I could do a few more reps.” Khepri said.

The trainer gave a small laugh. “Rest is an important part of the recovery process.” she smiled. “The last thing we need is for you to hurt yourself.”

“Sure.” Khepri leaned back in the wheelchair. “It’ll be a relief to get out of this thing, though.”

Simon gave an indelicate snort as she made her way over. She had heard from the water cooler that Khepri’s first physical therapist, a nurse, had gotten himself the boot by letting the woman work herself too hard. Like, doing lunges in the pool until her legs literally collapsed beneath her and she almost drowned.

Whatever or whoever Khepri was, the girl didn’t know how to take it easy if it killed her.

“Got a minute?” Simon pulled over a stool. “I’m supposed to talk with you again and all that.”

“Dr. Simon.” The woman’s lips twisted into a long smile. “Did you find the time for me amidst your official duties?”

Simon gave a cough. “‘Course. This is part of my job too.” Even if she had been… called out for skiving a bit on Khepri time for more Ada hours, well… a month was a long time, OK? She hadn’t done it intentionally, and now she was keeping better track of her time. “So, how are you feeling today? Got any more earth-shattering revelations for me?”

Like the fact that many worlds theory was not only correct, but possibly even a too-conservative view of reality. At least it wasn’t super symmetry, Simon mused. She had never liked the string theorists.

“I’m all out.” Khepri shrugged. “Haven’t had as much time to think recently.”

Simon shot a glance at her physiatrist. “And whose fault is that?”

Khepri shrugged. “I like being too tired to think. Makes things easier.”

Simon hummed. “Makes what easier?”

“Things.”

Simon huffed. They’d never even come back to the whole ‘butterfly dreaming it’s a man’ discussion, but over the past month, Simon had seen Khepri’s personality settle into something far too real to be fake or a front. The most telling part was how much the woman seemed to enjoy messing with Simon at all hours of the day.

Of course, it still felt that sometimes there was a very different intelligence looking out from behind those serious eyes.

“More seriously, everything.” Khepri’s voice made Simon jump in her chair. “Living. I can focus on the here and now, on this place instead of anywhere and everywhere else.”

Simon in tilter head. “Do you go somewhere else a lot?” she gave a little smile. “Or are we talking about figuratively here, you know, again?”

Khepri rolled her eyes. “You would be a better scientist if you didn’t always need to be the smartest person in the room.”

Simon pouted. “What, that’s—”

“Probably less fun to be around though.”

Simon pouted. “That’s not very nice.” She twirled a strand of her kinky black hair around a finger. “I don’t have to be the smartest person in the room…”

“You just are, anyway?” Khepri raised an eyebrow.

Simon pouted harder. “And you wonder why I like Ada better. She doesn’t talk back to me.”

Khepri stretched in her seat. “You can play dress up with me if you want.”

Simon startled, jerking her head away. “K-knock it off, you—you slattern!”

“That’s a good word.” Khepri nodded. “Dot teach it to you?”

“Get out of here.” Simon tossed her hair. “I got a ‘word a day’ calendar. They had cute little cat-themed ones at the gift shop.”

Khepri laughed, leaning back in her chair again. “Thank you. I needed that.” A more natural smile slipped across her face. “Anyway, you wanted to talk about something?”

“Just see how you were doing.” Simon set up a little bit straighter. “You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh.”

“From a certain point of view, it’s the first time I have ever laughed.” A shadow flickered across Khepri’s face.

“Hey!” Simon poked the other woman in the stomach. “None of that. If you’re going to get all existential on me again, do it where you have someone around who can actually help you with that stuff.”

Khepri smiled again. “You mean you won’t help me?”

Simon blinked. “I mean I’m not really qualified? But I… you know.” she gave a helpless shrug.

“From a certain point of view, you’re the most qualified person in the entire base.”

“I yeah, the ‘maybe I’m an alien’ thing.” Simon sighed. “I’m not some dedicated alien wrangler, no matter what you and the commander seem to think.”

“You seem to be doing a pretty good job so far.”

Simon cocked eyebrow. “You’ve been talking with Dot about Ada?”

Khepri smiled, looking away. “Not particularly.”

Simon’s other eyebrow rose to join the first. “What are you talking about then, if—”

“Alright, miss Khepri, ready for another set?” The PM&R doc came back over.

“Yes, thank you.” Khepri smiled, slipping her hand into the womans’s grip. He helped her stand carefully, before guiding her over to the bars. “I appreciate you keeping me on schedule.”

The woman gave an affable chuckle. “Please. We both know you could keep yourself on schedule.” She looked over at Simon. “Thanks for getting her to take a break, Simon.”

“Hey.” Simon crossed her arms. “We’re just getting to the good part!”

“I understand.” The woman shrugged. “But after what happened to Connors, I’m here to make sure we’re doing everything by the book.”

Khepri huffed as she started walking back down the room between the two parallel bars. “Is this a bad time to say I think I could manage without the bars, then?”

The doctor laughed. “Next week! Next week, if your progress continues at this rate, I’ll see about getting you fitted for crutches and a nice cane. How does that sound?”

“I never thought I’d say this,” Khepri said. “But I think I’d love a cane.”

Simon watched as Khepri made her way back and forth with the aid of the doctor and the bars. Her muscles still trembled after a lap or two, but she didn’t stop or complain. Instead, her face settled into a mask of grim determination.

“Is the alien part of you that ignores how much pain you’re in right now?” Simon asked. She was a research doctor, but you didn’t live on a military base without learning a thing or two about physical therapy, and how much it utterly sucked.

“Hmmm?” Khepri raised an eyebrow, though even that looked like it took effort. “If anything, that’s the most human thing about me.” Simon chewed over those words as Khepri switched from basic walking exercises to specific muscle groups. After being in a coma, Simon knew that stuff like this was just par for the course. According to the doctors, Khepri was making excellent progress.

She was also making excellent progress at annoying the hell out of Molly Simon.

Khepri was always willing to talk about the mystery of her arrival, but to Simon and no one else. And while sometimes she gave straight answers, usually it was more half-cryptic nonsense wrapped around a kernel of truth. Of course, with anyone else, Khepri wouldn’t give them the time of day.

Simon was half convinced the woman did it just so Simon would have to keep working with her. When she told the commander as much, he replied that if she wanted to get off alien handling duty, she should stop handling them quite so well.

Simon hardly thought she was doing anything special. Ada and Khepri were… adrift in strange waters. Simon just tried to be something that they could grab on to and cast off again when they were ready.

Of course, Ada didn’t seem very interested in the letting go portion, but Simon was fine with that as well. Completely fine.

All this to say that while Molly Simon didn’t appreciate being Khepri’s cryptic hint collector, she understood at least a bit where the other woman was coming from.

Now, if only she could forget the part where Khepri suggested that she had some kind of ESP, or else was reading people’s minds. She would really sleep a lot better at night and she didn’t have to think about that.

“I’m going to have to file another stupid report.” She sighed. “Good at wrangling aliens my butt…”

“I’m… hah… not interested in your butt, doctor.”

Simon went beet red, looking sharply away from where Khepri was working through her current exercise. “Not helpful,” she got out.

Khepri wheezed.

Simon put her face in her hands and didn’t look up until Khepri’s chair was wheeled over next to her.

Thankfully, Khepri didn't say anything else at first; she was too busy getting her breath back with long, purposeful gulps of air. Even then, it was strange. She was treating it like it was just a sort of issue she was addressing, rather than the breathlessness actually affecting her in any concrete way.

“Thank you for the help, doctor,” Khepri said to the PM&R doc. At this point, Simon was feeling a little bad for forgetting the womans’s name; she’d have to look it up later. “I know I’m not the easiest patient.”

She smiled, patting Khepri on the shoulder. “We’re here for all of our patients, don’t worry about it so much. Worry about getting back on your feet.” She raised a hand when Khepri opened her mouth. “Without hurting yourself even more.”

Khepri sighed wistfully. “Yes, doctor.”

Simon glanced over when the door to the PT room chimed, letting Dot in. She paused a few steps away from Simon and Khepri, bottle of water in one hand and two cups of coffee in the other. “I thought the three of you might be done by now.” She handed out her spoils, coffee for the doctors (of course) and water for the resident alien.

“Thanks, Dot,” the PM&R doc said. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“It is no problem, Ella.”

“Love you, Dot.” Simon leaned over, hugging the petite woman around the waist.

Khepri smiled. “I see why Simon keeps you around.”

The woman rolled her bottle-green eyes. “I would not know about that.”

“Please, I keep Dot around for all kinds of reasons.” Simon sat up a little straighter in her chair. “That she knows how to make my coffee is all upside.”

“Everyone knows how you take your coffee.” Dot pushed up her glasses. “It’s one button.”

Simon shrugged. “You’re the only one who brings it to me.”

Dot closed her eyes as the other two doctors laughed, as if to say, ‘look what I have to put up with’. Simon just laughed even harder.

“Anyway,” Ella said. “I have to finish my rounds. Can I trust you two to get Khepri back to her room?” When Simon and Dot both nodded, she bid them all goodbye and left the room to see her next patient.

“What were you speaking about beforehand?” Dot asked.

“How Simon is so good at handling aliens.” Khepri tossed her now empty plastic bottle towards the recycling bin. It bounced off the can, clattering to the floor, and she frowned in annoyance.

“I did not know you had been talking about Ada.”

“That’s the thing.” Simon crossed arms. “We haven’t been. Khep is being all cryptic again.”

“I do try.” The woman stared at the plastic bottle on the ground for a long moment before sighing. Dot picked it up and threw it in the recycling.

“If you are psychic, why not simply say so?” Dot asked. “Your delight in tormenting us is almost as bad as Simon’s obsession with Ada.”

“Hey!”

Khepri shrugged lightly. “I’m not psychic, though I had a friend who claimed she was.”

“Was she?” Dot asked.

Khepri smiled.

Simon threw her hands up. “See what I have to deal with?” Her voice took on a playful whine. “Day in and day out I have to handle the snarky little POS while you get to play with Ada!”

“We are not playing.” Dot pushed the other woman’s shoulder. “We’re running through actual tests. I know you prefer behavioral data to the exclusion of all else, but—”

“Nooooo!” Simon covered her face with her hands. “I don’t want to hear about all of the tests you have been running on my adorable little being!”

Khepri raised an eyebrow as the woman practically sobbed into her hands.

“It’s like missing my daughter’s first steps!” Simon pouted. “Learning about it secondhand just isn’t the same at all.”

“Ada will be devastated that you think of her as a daughter.” Dot’s voice was drier than the Arctic tundra. “Absolutely distraught.” Simon blushed and looked away.

Khepri’s second eyebrow rose up to join the first period

“Don’t look at me like that.” Simon bit her lip. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I’m sure it is,” came Khepri’s reply.

Dot cleared her throat. “In any case, I would like the answer to the questions we were talking about before Molly threw us all off topic.” She gave a significant glare towards her partner. “Again.”

Simon held up her hands in surrender.

Khepri hummed, settling back in her chair. “Was my friend psychic?” She gave a wan smile. “No, she just liked to pretend she was.”

“And how did that work?” Simon asked.

“She was an excellent guesser.”

Simon leaned forward, groaning. “Alright, that’s it.” She stood. “I’m done for the day.” Khepri gave a playful smile.

She let out a long-suffering sigh, though whether she was upset with Khepri or Simon herself remained up in the air. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to answer any other questions, since you were feeling so forthcoming.”

Khepri shrugged. “Dr. Simon says we’re done for the day.” Her smile grew a bit more smug. “Also, people keep telling me that I shouldn’t overdo things so much. I’m trying to take that to heart.”

“Not even trying to pretend you’re not just messing with me,” Simon grumbled.

Dot sighed again.

“Well, if that is the case, would you like us to take you back to your room?” Dot gestured towards the door. “It has been a long day.”

“Could we stop by the library first?” Khepri’s smile grew a bit more genuine.

“Oh, now you want to spend more time with us.” Simon gave a snarky smile.

Khepri shrugged. “I have… recently rediscovered a love of reading. I didn’t… I wasn’t able to read nearly as much as I wanted to, at the end.”

Dot gave a gentle sigh, coming over to push Khepri’s chair. “It would be my pleasure to go to the library.” She began to wheel Khepri towards the door. “One day you’ll also have to tell us about the rest of your story.”

Khepri laughed. This time it sounded more human. Simon quickly killed the rest of her coffee, before walking over to the garbage can.

“Ada!?”

Simon’s head whipped around. The door to the PT room was open, and a familiar albino figure was standing there. She and Khepri stared at each other.

Neither of them were moving.

Simon was already moving as Dot asked, “How did you get out of your room?”

Ada held up a piece of paper with ‘new test in progress’ written on it. Simon’s mouth dropped open. She’d made that sign months ago as a do-not-disturb sign.

“How… does that explain it?”

Simon was still staring dumb-struck when Khepri’s laugh started her out of her shock.

“She just held up the sign and pointed whenever someone asked her where Dr. Simon was.”

Dot sighed. “That does sound like something Simon—”

Ada bristled, hair spiking up like a lion’s mane. Before either scientist could react, the alien lunged forward.

“Ada!”

Khepri’s chair went clattering as the woman hit the ground. Ada landed above her on all fours. Her tail lashed angrily in the air as she bared her lips, her massive, shark-like teeth trained on other woman.

Simon stumbled into Ada’s tail as she tried to get closer. Her flats beat uselessly against the laminate floor, and it took her a second to realize that Ada was pushing her away.

Like she was trying to keep her safe.

As Simon staggered back, she saw Dot with her back against the wall, frozen in fear, a foot away from the panic button.

Then her eyes were pulled back to Khepri and Ada as the crippled woman spoke.

“I see you, little one.”

Ada stilled, eyes wide and unblinking.

Khepri tilted her head, birdlike. The two of them stared at each other. Then Ada’s tongue flicked out, almost warily, and brushed Khepri’s lips.

The air stilled. A weight settled over everything like a shroud.

Simon forgot to breathe.

Then Khepri blinked first. “I’m sorry,” Khepri whispered. “You were very brave, coming here like this.”

Ada shuffled up, hair tendrils flicking back and forth, but not in anger, Simon realized.

Now she just looked confused.

“I will not harm your nest.” Khepri raised her hand, cupping Ada’s cheek. “It was never my intention to frighten you.”

Now Ada blinked twice in rapid succession before leaning forward again, eyes narrowed.

But Khepri just smiled. “I promise. No,” she paused, “I [PROMISE].”

Simon staggered, as if struck by physical force.

Then Ada gave a happy trill, pulling Khepri up effortlessly. She righted the wheelchair with a flick of her tail and set the older woman down on it. Simon just watched in abject shock as Ada nuzzled against Khepri’s cheek while the woman giggled alongside her. Not laughed, actually giggled. When Dot stumbled over to Simon, Simon’s mouth just moved on autopilot.

“We’re going to have to work on you not freezing up like that.”

“I didn’t.” Dot’s eyes were wide. “Something stopped me from moving.”

Simon looked over. “What?”

Then both women looked back as Ada pushed Khepri’s chair over to them, before perching on the back handles like some type of giant white bird. She smiled happily at Simon.

Once again, Simon’s mouth moved before her brain could catch up. “What just happened there, you two?” She realized only a second later that she defaulted to her ‘Ada baby’ voice.

Khepri smiled. It was… unlike most of her other smiles. She looked tired, but happier for it.

“Ada here was worried. She felt like a small animal does, when a large predator intrudes upon its territory.”

Simon blinked.

Khepri looked over her shoulder, turning her smile towards Ada. “I just let her know that we are all so small… in the end.”