RegressionRevolution

Tora awoke and she wasn't certain of how long she had slept. She realised she clutching the soft teddy bear and immediately cast it away, feeling immature dispute the familiar comfort it had given her. As first Tora just sighed and sat up. The railings on her pink bed were still up, so she supposed she was expected to wait for someone to come for her. After all she literally didn't know the magic which brought the bars down again. The trouble for Tora was that she didn't know how long she could wait. As she sat listening out footsteps she was conscious of s pressure in her bowels of the kind which would normally incline her to visit a restroom but in thus circumstance she was confined in more ways than one. "Hello?" She called out, hoping someone was nearby the suite of rooms. She got no response. Restless, Tora decided to try and climb out of the bed, the bars didn't look impossibly high. She was astonished to ring fingers meet against something she couldn't see as she attempted to grasp the rails. She felt around the parameter of the bed checking this was true on all four sides. "Fucking magic." She cursed to herself. Maybe it was desperation not to have another accident like earlier or perhaps it was damages pride from losing at the children's game but Tora was not ready to be beaten. She knew she couldn't reach through the bars, so all she had available to her were the things on the bed with her. She got to work untucking blankets and pulling up the sheets from the mattress. It turned out she had slept on a rubber sheet after all. She stacked bundled up bedding, pillows and the three stuffed animals up against the corner of the cot. Her intention was to climb them, she would soon find out if there was forcefield over the top of the bed in addition to the sides. If she unlucky her only remaining options were shouting for help or forcefully trying to break her way out of the fairly solid looking bed.

Tora tried to dig her heels in against the plush carpet but Erodryn was ridiculously strong for woman as slim as a super model. Tora wondered if she even felt her meek resistance against being put to bed like a child who doesn't know what's best for them. With a little more magic Tora was helped out of the dress she was wearing, so it didn't get creased as she slept. She was left wearing the colourful onesie and of course the padded underwear beneath. It really did make her feel like a little girl. Erodryn pressed the teddy bear into her arms and then the side rails came up with a 'schlik' sound. Tora was left alone. She felt she ought to try and scale the rails and run but she had no idea how to get to her ship and to be frank she was exhausted, she felt like she had been awake twenty hours today, it wasn't even dark outside yet. Really the most sensible think to do was to take the opportunity to rest. At least she had been given a bed of sorts. Could she hear the faint rustling of a waterproof mattress cover beneath the sheets? Maybe it was just the diaper she was wearing. Tora tried to make herself more comfortable, attempting to strip naked but it was impossible to find any seams on the magic fabric and she was unable to tear it. Relenting she hugged the teddy Bear. She found it curious it looked like something from home. Maybe the Sylvan had seen one in data sent on the first probe and made it especially for her? Pondering this Tora's eyes grew heavy, her breathing slow and deep. She fell into a dreamless sleep.

PAs Tora was shown each of the rooms of the suite a couple of things stuck out for her. First all, a four room suite was certainly an the kind of lavish apartment she had hoped for as an ambassador from Earth but it was increasingly apparent from the decoration and functions of different clhambers, that her hosts had somehow confused her for a child. "Yes. Thank you. It's nice but... I'm not a child." Tora tired to insist but she wasn't indulged. Gloomily she flopped down onto a sofa in the reception room. Was this to be her life for the foreseeable future, princess gowns, games and diapers? She wondered how she was going to convince anyone that she was an adult? Perhaps she could make some headway with the woman who was to be her tutour? Or maybe one of the board games under the coffee table would be a good way to start picking up Slyvanesti? Tora pulled a board game out and studied the box. "Will you play this with me?" It looked like a simple matching game, a bit like 'snap'. She supposed all the games in the too would be 'age appropriate' I.e. she wasn't going to find anything challenging. What Tora didn't consider though was the complexity of the Slyvian language matched the complexity of their thinking. The simple fact was that to them her intellect really wasn't much greater than a child's. As the game was demonstrated to her she was impatient and always saw only the first meaning in the picture cards, facing to grasp the deeper meanings and therefore the subtle ways in which seemly different cards counted as matches under the games rules. After what was only a few rounds of the game but was experienced as a couple of hours for Tora, her frustration got the better of her. "I don't understand it. This game is stupid." She stropped. Setting down her cards and crossing her arms. To the Sylvania she looked like a grumpy tired little girl in need of a nap.

Tora was quite paying attention when a bib magicked at her chest. She had been looking around the small room taking in details, only to look down and realise Erodryn had put her in a bib without even having to reach around and tie it around her neck. It had sort of meshed itself to her dress, the itself having been formed of originally two separate items of clothing. Tora tried to pull the bib off but the flannel cloth was stuck fast to the snugly fit dress. "I don't need a bib!" She whined in frustration, unable to tug to off. She felt she didn't need to be wearing a diaper either but she knew she had no chance of getting at beneath the onsie under her dress without some kind of cutting tool. Some plates of food were presented to her and Tora nodded enthusiastically for the proffered flat bread. She grinned and nodded again after taking a bit. It tasted familiar and that was s comfort on this day of strangeness. Next she picked at s mix of things which looked familiar and other foods which were completely alien. She discovered she didn't at all like the sweet and spicy taste of a mushy fruit closely resembling a banana put she did like the savoury cakes, little boiled eggs and some kind of cheese (she hoped it wasn't made from horse milk). Although it was pretty fun to be trying a selection of foods from an alien culture, there were several indicators she was being given a child's meal. The food was wholesome and unseasoned, there was nothing spicy or fried. It had also all been cut up for to eat with her fingers. Afterwards, Erodryn sat next to her with a bowl of something and tried to feed it to her. Tora was uncooperative, which made the bib suddenly justifiable, goop ended up smattered over it.

.,..,.,.,Tora marvelled at the way the fabric came together seamless at Erodryn's touch. She was still upset about being mistaken for a child and dressed like a little princess but her sense of wonder was almost overcoming her dismay. Almost... She was finding odd looking down at the simple neckline of the dress tightly fitted to her newly flat chest. There was not an ounce of cleavage. Tora realised Erodryn was expectantly holding out s hand for her to hold again. She took it and wondered what it would take to be earn enough trust to wonder the Maison unattended? As they walked to the kitchens where some food had been readily prepared in expectation of the Earthlings arrival, Tora realised was waddiling a little in her diaper. The padded garment was thick. It was throwing her stride off kilter.

Tora's sense of protocol became further and further confused. She could understand that the Sylvan Folk seemed to have caste society with domestic servants. Thus she accepted that it was the role of the bathers to help her get washed. She didn't understand why the Lady of the House herself now insisted on helping her get dressed. "Arn't these a bit childish?" Tora frowned, looking down at the patterned panties she was expected to step into. She a tingle of humiliation as garment was pulled up to her now hairless pubic region. Once the panties were on she realised they seemed to be excessively thick. It wasn't until they had sealed her into a colourful onsie that the penny dropped for Tora and she realised with disgust that she'd allowed herself to be put in a diaper. "Hey! Hey wait a minute. This is s diaper isn't it? You can't put me in a diaper, i'm a grown woman." Tora protested, tugging at her body suit. She realised her new flat chest and lack of body hair made her seem less like the grown woman she thought of herself as. "Is this all because I had an accident on the way here? That won't happen again. I promise." Tora could only pout and fold her arms as Erodryn finished dressing her in a childish blouse and skirt. "You think i'm a child don't you?" Tora asked, thinking about the way she had been treated so far.

From Tora's perspective the next few moments were traumatic. At first the attendants poked and plucked at her spacesuit underlay. She resisted them slightly and was annoyed she couldn't explain to them where the zips and clasps were. It would have been handy undressing with attendants because the bodysuit was uncompromising tight, fitted specifically to her form like a glove in order to keep her warm and reduce misalignment of her muscle groups through tissue expansion in prolonged exposure to zero-G environment. For the last few months it had essentially been a second skin. Then suddenly it was in ribbons at her feet. Tora shrieked in alarm. The hi-tech suit had been laced with micro circuitry and nano-receptors to monitor her Kinesthetics. It was integral to her spacesuit. In a Tora tried to recall if there was a spare suit on her lander craft. Logically there should be. She hoped so, otherwise she might have no way home. The phrase, 'as if by magic' floated in Tora's mind and receded again as more immediate concerns demanded her full attention. She her the support of her breasts suddenly give way and realised her bra had vanished into thin air. Her panties were gone. "What is this? What's going on!" She whined at her murmuring assailants. She didn't understand. Was this simulation? Maybe an induced hallucination? One of those weird stress dreams in which you realise you're no wearing any clothes. Tora's nightmare only got worse. One moment she was staring down at her bare breasts, wondering why her underwear was missing. The thing she knew she was flat chested! She didn't feel the transformation happen. There was no pain or irksome feeling of her breast tissue reducing. It was more like reality had just been altered, as her chest had always been this was, although she knew over wise. "What the fuck!" Tora yelled in astonishment. "What have you done to me. Why have you done this?" Resistance was futile. Tora knew she had very little choice but to go along with the requests made of her, especially as it appeared the Sylvan Folk had reality warping abilities. She had felt a little superior at first, seeing the horses and carts as a sign of a less advanced people. Now she realised that technology wasn't everything. How little her people really knew of their universe. During the bath itself Tora was a little more contrite. It was impossible not to feel more relaxed. The warm water enveloped her and a floral frequency hung in the air. The attendants who washed her were invasive (they washed her all over) but gentle. In fact given the strength of Tu-lak's grip as she felt earlier, she realised they were being very gentle with her indeed. She wondered if it had something to do with the fact she now effectively looked like a tall child. "I still don't really understand what you've done.. Or why, but I don't think you mean me any harm." She told them, looking at the Lady Erodryn. Tora was fairly sure she was missing some etiquette in addressing the noble women but she was definitely the person in charge and so the person Tora wanted to be on her side. If that meant she had to let the Lady and the tutour witness her being scrubbed and dried by a team of bath attendants, then so be it.

When she was spoken to Tora patiently maintained eye contact, nodded if she understood something and listened as well as she was able but it was impossible not to feel uncomfortable and be reminded of her accident. Honestly it was a bit easier to just gauge facial expressions and gestures at this point. To her, Sylvanesti was like the Entish language of the Tree Shepheards in Lord of the Rings. Distractly she got the impression the Sylvan Folk might enjoy reading Tolkien. If ever she was to meet a people akin to the wood elves, it was certainly here. Of course that was mere conjecture, she hoped to find out what the Sylvan Folk were really like during her stay. Tora was introduced to a woman she understood to be a tutor. That would certainly be useful, the intent was probably to assist and fast track her understanding of Sylvsnesti. Strangely, to Tora's mind, the tutor insisted on holding her hand as Tu-lak had. Perhaps it was a sort of custom? No one else seemed to be doing it but maybe it was only extended to guests? Tora took the offered hand just to be polite. Their small procession to the mansion seemed very formal to Tora who had never really moved in the highest social circles before. Obviously her hosts were wealthy. The extravagant dress, regimented guards and lavish surrounds made her feel all the more wretched about her wet pants. Obviously the Sylvan Folk wanted to make an impression her, she feared she offered a poor one in return but at least her hosts were gracious. Maybe after getting cleaned up she could sort of start again? They came to a room in which a bath of steaming water had already been poured by now withdrawn servants. "Oh wow, thank you so much. A real hot bath! I've been restricted to micro showers with recycled water for months. We have to be strict about energy and resource consumption when traveling in space. There was like pages and pages of regulations I had to agree to agree too just for agreed limits on water consumption..." Tora stopped, releasing she was getting blank expressions. Obviously she was speaking too animatedly for the Sylvan Folk. "Thank you." She offered simply in their language as an abridged version. Tora full unexpected to be left alone so she could undress and bathe herself but with quietening unease she realised she wasn't being left to herself.

Tora was reluctant to helped of the carriage but she understood they had finally arrived at there destination and she was expected to meet someone. Presumably someone important. She didn't know if it was worse to be seen with wet clothes or to refuse the audience. What she wanted to do was postpone this engagement, instead going to someplace quiet where she could get cleaned up and otherwise hide away until she felt better again. Tu-lak clearly thought differently and insisted she exit the wagon It was immediately obvious whom Tora was supposed to be meeting, the woman wore a stunning dress of a white so bright it seemed to shine just as much as the gold thread in the gown. Tora didn't consider herself much of a girly girl but she admired feminine beauty all the same. Such beauty made Tora feel wretched in her soiled space traveller's clothes and she was feeling belittled by her embarrassing accident. Nevertheless she attempted to muster some diplomatic decorum and respond to Erodryn's greeting. "Greetings from Earth. My name is Tora Ghel. Its nice to meet you." Tora was subsequently invited into the mansion by her host. It was uncomfortable to walk down the splendid galleries as legs felt cold now and chaffed, however she still felt awed by her surrounded. She thought the mansion was on par with any palace on Earth. "Would I be able to wash a change into some fresh cloths?" She asked hopefully, aware Erodryn wouldn't understand her but also unaware that the Sylvan lady had the same things her mind.

Tora had devoted all of her energies and attention towards holding herself. The result was that she was now breathing heavily and that every bump in the road sent a jolt through the cushioned sheet which threatened to unsaddle her concentration. She didn't understand why the journey was taking soo very long. Everything about the Sylvan seemed to be leisurely paced, as of they had all the time in the world. By comparison Tora must have seemed jittery and spontaneous in all her actions. Another jolt in the carriage. Why didn't these people have tarmac roads, rubber tires and suspension? As the magnificent city of the Sylvan Folk came into few on the horizon. Tora felt a hot spurt escape into the crotch of her garment. Before she knew it she had lost control and was peeing heavily all down her legs. Wetness pooled on the seat beneath her and dripped down into the timbers of the carriage floor. Tora was flustered and red with humiliation. She couldn't believe this had happened to her. She unbuckled herself and stood up to get out of her saturated seat but it didn't change the fact that her under suit was wet and sticking to her legs. Tora realised there was no where she could go. No where to hide her shame. She didn't even have a change of clothes with her. Space was limited on her spacecraft and the Sylvan Folk had offered to take care of all of her needs. So she was stuck with wet pants then? Sulkily she sat down on the third bench. "What am I going to do about this?"

"Hehehuh! Look at us, holding hands on the first date." Tora giggled whimsically to herself in her own language. Truthfully she was a little nervous. She had been warned by advisors when prepping for this mission that she should be ready for unexpected behaviour from her hosts. Certainly had Tu-lak been some random bloke at a nightclub she would have been offended at his precociousness but here she would understood after a little bit of trying to wriggle away, that this was for her own guidance. There was danger somewhere. Naturally Tora's eyes darted around the forest looking for some sign of a huge ravenous animal. What would happen if it found them? Would Tu-lak protect them? His grip was certainly strong for a slender man. Tora herself had no weapons on her person. Carrying an Earth firearm to an alien culture had been expressively ruled out by the UNE Security Council. And besides, Tora had never taken firearms training. While Tora pondered these things and her chaperone kept a vigilant eye out for an unknown danger, the shadows of the forest grew. Tora noticed this after a while and realised it wasn't simply that there were venturing deeper into a darkening forest but instead that there was more shadows than there should be. The spaces between the trees were filling with shadows. Darker and darker. Tora dragged a little at Tu-lak's arm. If sometimes menacing did stalk the woods, she was sure it would be here. Suddenly all the trees faded into darkness. In front of her nose was darkness and Tu-lak lead them forward. Tora thought of her experience as like that of Alice falling through the looking glass. She felt all of her senses fall out of equilibrium and then suddenly she felt her boots on ground again, air in her lungs and a completely new environment greet her staring eyes. Tora gasped for air and was visibly shaken for a moment. "Was that dark matter? Like the stuff hiding the planet?" She asked of Tu-lak, who drew a blank at her English. She tried again in his language, mustering as best as she could the many sweet syllables of his words. "Black sky. No... Black air. Um?.." What had he said earlier? She hadn't really understood it. "Underdark gone." Tora took note that they weren't alone. "Hello. My name is Tora Ghel." She greeted the spontaneously appearing newcomers surrounding the wagon. Or perhaps she and Tu-lak had just spontaneously appeared before them? Buckling her 'car seat belt' had come very easily to Tora. It was fortune that Sylvan Folk had a similar sense of ergonomics to her own people. She had sat herself opposite Tu-lak so that they could talk to one another but that didn't really pan out. Not to matter, she had an alien landscape to peer out upon and keep her entertained and did, for the first couple of hours. "How long is this journey going to take?" Tora asked when she first felt a twinge from her bladder. It was hard not to try speaking in her own language first but as she tried to think of the Sylvan words she realised she had no idea how she was going to ask about using the toilet. She mentally winced. How stupid of her. What an oversight on the part of the people responsible for prepping her. She knew how to say 'hello. My name is Tora Ghel.' But she had no idea how to ask were to bathroom was. She sat a fumed at her situation for a while but as the time ticked by her need just got worse. Shed started to physically fidget. "Are we nearly there yet?" Tora started to groan quietly as her bladder started to ache. Would 'there' have a toilet? She tried to hold it longer but after a while she feared she was genuinely going to wet herself. "Stop. Tu-lak, please stop. Tell them stop. I want to get out." Would getting out and urinating in public or behind a bush cause a huge diplomatic scene? It was definitely not something she wanted to be remembered for but what other choice did she have? She wasn't going to simply wet the pants of her form fitting flight suit underlay. The garment was sometimes referred to as body dock due to its snug fit, it was also a bit like s baby's onsie.

There is an old saying on Earth: 'Cannot see the woods from the trees'. It described getting preoccupied with the details of a thing and therefore missing the bigger picture. That aptly described Humanity's outlook on the morning the first signal from an alien intelligent form of life was received. An arsenal of telescopes scanned distant stars, unmanned satellites were flung towards distant but promising systems in hope of tasting oxygen rich atmosphere. And yet the first sign of a habitable planet other than Earth was detected just 3 systems away by an amateur astronomy club. Gradually more and more telescopes fixed on the source of the signal. It was instantly recognised why the planet had been missed in those early days space photography. There was nothing there. No light anyway, nothing to reflect the rays of the near by star. Further analysis indicated there was a gravity well there. Which meant, according to Physicists something was indeed there. Dark Matter... The words caught the imagination of the scientific community and the public at large. Properly referred to as antimatter, it was a theoretical particle used in contemporary physics to 'fill in the gaps' when it came to explaining why the universe appeared to contain more energy than Matter and why the universe appeared to be continually expanding rather than cooling down into entropy. Essentially it seemed like the mysterious planet was cloaked in Dark Matter. An entire fleet of surveillance craft were sent to orbit the site and carry out detailed analysis. The data seemed to confirm the original theory. There was nothing physically at the sight, nothing to look at, nothing listen to, nothing that emitted any heat, just a gravitational pull of a magnitude which suggested something consistent with a solid planet. Orbiting site revealed it cast a shadow of sorts, or rather than the light and energy of the local star was not passing straight thought the seemingly empty space. Frustrated that their efforts had not yielded any concrete results, a UN Council committee approved the launch of an unmanned probe into the 'entity'. It picked up energy fluctuations approaching the threshold and then ceased communication. The worst case scenario theory was that it had reacted with the Antimatter and effectively phased out of existence. A few days later the probe was detected in orbit near the threshold. It bore a message. The message came from sentient beings beyond the veil of darkness. They wanted to meet the people outside. A cultural exchange was proposed. .... Tora Gehl stared up in awe at the gargantuan tree line before the landing site of her single person shuttle. She couldn't see the wood from the trees. She paced around the trunk of the nearest tree, comparing it to a redwood in the forests of North America and wondered just how ancient the alien tree must me. For a daunting moment she wondered her hosts, the Sylvan Folk might also be giants? She was pleased that the one waiting for her appeared to be of similar height a build to a human. "Hello." She stated simply with a friendly and enthusiastic smile, decoupling her flight helmet to reveal wavy raven coloured hair beneath. "My name is Tora." A cheeky side of herself wanted to add 'we come in peace' but her ability to speak the alien tongue was very limited, the language was complicated, it took supercomputers to break down and translate the original message. Little did either side realise that the machines had translated the message overly literally, it had measured by atomic time, not factoring that daylight cycles were different between the planets. Tora had no idea that in the eyes if the person she had just met, she was only three and half years old. "Tu-lak", Tora repeated after learning the name of her guide. He corrected her pronunciation but seemed pleased by her efforts. For her part Tora was amazed and relieved at how human-like her host seemed. She could barely talk to him and yet he seemed to understand her intentions and was friendly towards her. She knew it would be quite a long time until she was fluent enough to discuss Sylvan Folk culture in detail but she was feeling optimistic. It was privilege to be invited her even simply as a semi mute observer. Tora thought she was an explorer, or perhaps even an ambassador. She had no idea she was to offered as a adoptive child to the wife of an important figure in a staged political move. She couldn't see the woods from the trees.

This could even end up as a diaper dimension RP

The squadron dispersed after the captain's address, there were duties to perform as the Invictus left orbit and ventured out from the Sol systems. Most of the crew were already walking in groups or pairs, laughing and familiar with each other. One figure marched off alone. Tora was of Polynesian decent. Her black auburn tinted hair was neatly tucked beneath a UN blue barret. Her uniform was conservatively button up to collar, there was a tantalising suggestion of a curvy athletic figure beneath as her hips rolled to the rhythm of her brisk pace. Tora arrived at the ordinance storeroom and punched an access code into the maglock keypad. Once inside she had to flash an identity card to the Quarter Master. Soon she was lost amongst stacked shelves of boxes. She knelt on the floor, bent at the middle, leaning over a box of rail-gun slugs. She had a ship's manifest I'm one hand and a one of the bullet shaped armour piercing rounds in the other. It was about as thick as her thumb. A standardised kinetic ammunition which could be fired from a magazine. Her duty was a dull one. Inventory check. The computer gave her a random casement number. She had to find the box, which held the magazine, which had the bullet. The venture into outerspace was staggeringly expensive, the investors back home wanted to be reassured everything was in order. Tora rolled the heavy alloy slug in her palm and read the serial number stamped into the casing. She gave a small sigh of relief that it matched the manifest. It would have been a like looking for a needle in a haystack if entry had been wrong. As she packed up she wondered if pirates had to do this sort of tedious task? She supposed it seemed silly for something designed to expendable like a bullet but what if something vital was missing? Of course even the seemingly mundane could be vital. What if there were no spare UV light tubes for the hydroponics bay and some of them went out? Would they have to deal with a potential food shortage for the duration of the tour? It was questions like that which fast tracked Tora through her flight support officer training. She was naturally inclined to spot patterns and problems then think 5 steps ahead. It gave her an edge in anticipating things. Her friends despaired at her ability to nearly always predict and counter a volley ball shot. Her commanders praised her rational and tactical thinking during flight simulations. It could have fast tracked her to coveted a place on bridge but instead she was a co-pilot on a light space craft. It was all because of a damning statement on her psychology statement which. The doctors who assessed said she was prone to stress, in part due to her analytical thinking. Her instructors had therefore decided experience with a lesser craft and under the supervision of a copilot was the best way to test her reactions to stress outside of the flight simulator. She knew she should have been happy, she was one of the few people selected for the first Extra Terrestrial UN peacekeeping mission, and yet her ambitions reminded her she wasn't sitting where she wanted to be. At least there was one silver lining, her copilot was kind of hot. She seen him around the training base before but never actually talked him before. That made her a bit anxious. She'd checked out his social media but there was no way of verifying is he was nice or an asshole. "Hey Tora." A hand clapped over her shoulder. She spun around to the bright greeting smile of Selena Ferrez, a fiery haired logistics officer and also one of Tora's friends from the academy. "Caught you daydreaming." Selena stated with good humour. "Yeah. The next duty on my roster is some routine astrometrics calibration. I was trying to decide which sampling algorithm to use." Tora lied quickly. She had a British accent, not a Polynesian one. She'd been born and raised in the Megapolis of London. "You were thinking about algorithms for mapping stars?" Selena arched an eyebrow skeptically. Then she took Tora's wrist and guided her down corridor to a viewing port. "Look at that! You could have missed this. You need to learn when to chill. Take a moment and look at your algorithms later." Together they looked out at the Earth and it's moon. Half in darkness, half in the Sun. It was growing smaller as they distanced themselves from the gravitational pull of the Sun in order to transition to Faster Than Light Speed. "We've been orbiting Earth for a month. Honestly, I didn't think about it much other than send some photos back to my family. Now, I don't know what to think. I guess, I'm gonna miss it... It looks, sort of sad. Lonely maybe?" Tora commented pensively. "Not for long. Soon the United Nations of Earth will spread across the stars."

If you have an idea for the alien society Tora finds herself forced to grow up again within, let me know.

Tora Gehl is an emissary from a space faring society. Her job is to establish diplomatic ties between her own society and newly discovered worlds, facilitating trade, cordial relations and to try and spread her own cultural values. When she takes up a new position as the resident emissary with a newly contacted society, little does Tora release she's about experience total immersion in her host's culture, as in their society, she is still deemed an infant and taken into the care of her alien counterpart. .............. If you're interested, let's discuss.