Smela had her life under control. At least she believed it.

Perfect family, stable income, and her dream vacation on alien worlds just in sight.

Promised the trip of a lifetime, she studied the brochure of her holiday destination for the tenth time. Alien beaches, beautiful coastline—she ought to be there with her family tomorrow.

Her husband had already departed with their daughter. She travelled a few days later with their son, who had fallen ill and had to recover. It was no big deal. The anticipation of the voyage outweighed the worry.

Then it all vanished within minutes.

She still clutched the brochure when the creature dragged her paralysed body down the gangway, through the breach in the hull where the intruders had entered the shuttle.

With a jolt, the clean, sleek interior of the shuttle gave way to a dark corridor. If her muscles had responded, she would have screamed.

There was nothing else to do but to observe them.

Tall, clad in leathery robes, some upright, some crouched low, limbs folding one joint too many.

Deprived of the ability to move, Smela’s thoughts raced, too fast to keep up.

The creature dragged her further into the alien ship. Where it gripped her, her skin felt tense, though there was no pain. Where it touched the floor, it felt cold and damp.

Suddenly, it slung her into a pit, like a bag of refuse. When the vertigo of the impact faded, she found herself not alone. Smela recognised a passenger among other paralysed beings. She couldn’t see beyond the body beneath her.

Every fibre of her body strained to turn, to find her son. He had been right behind her in the corridor. He must have been there. She cried curses but her tongue remained still.

Another body landed on top of her. Its weight pressed all the air out of her lungs.

Her vision went black.

When she woke again, there was nothing but pain. Her muscles were cramping, her head hammering awfully loud, and the taste of blood filled her mouth.

She was cold, naked, and suspended in the air by something in her neck. Something tugged on her skull when she tried to move it more than a fraction. A foreign body. It stopped her.

Smela could only make out vague lights on an even darker backdrop. The migraine blurred everything.

Whatever it was that crept down her spine, it curled when she tried to move. As if sensing her will to escape, lifting her up and turning her over.

A warmth swept through her body, slowly spreading through every vessel of her flesh. Her muscles relaxed, her heartbeat slowed. It was almost like a hug.

Smela felt it dig deeper, pulling her closer to something vast until her shoulder blades touched it.

Pain again, sharp and precise this time. One nerve at a time, vertebrae by vertebrae, fusing her to a being much greater than everything she could imagine. When it reached her occiput, the blinding migraine ceased instantly.

Blinking away the blurriness was difficult, and when the shapes before her eyes slowly sharpened, she wished she hadn’t.

Across a deep rift hung countless bodies, racked just like her, into columns as far as her field of vision allowed her to see. To her left and right, the rows continued into what one could only call a dark abyss.

Nothing here felt accidental. Was there a purpose?

What broke Smela was the sight that hung in the alcove right opposite:

Her son, blinking just like her.

The warmth left her.

Pain returned, forcing her eyes closed.

Possibly forever.