| Date & Time: | Day 01, 1954 |
| Location: | Washington Quarters |
| Written By: | CPO Charlie Washington Annie Washington Melanie Washington |
| Post Date: | 03/04/2026 |
| Episode: | Ep. 2 – On Shaky Ground |
Charlie sat on the edge of the bed inside the room belonging to his daughter Melanie, “It’s bedtime,” He insisted. Charlie knew it was going to be a struggle getting his child to bed, she’d had a long day between the trip to the station and seeing her father for the first time in quite a long time.
Melanie was sitting on the floor playing with one of her toys, she had been ignoring her father because she wasn’t tired. Or, at least Melanie didn’t feel tired and when she heard him say it again she turned and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. The eight-year-old shook her head, “I’m not tired Daddy,” She said.
Annie heard the conversation that was happening in the bedroom belonging to her daughter before deciding to get involved in what was happening. She got up from the sofa and leaned against the doorway into the bedroom. “Mel,” She said with a serious look on her face, “If you want Daddy to read to you, then you need to get into bed.”
Melanie sighed before getting up off the floor and picking up her stuffed animal as she did so. Melanie was already wearing her pajama shirt and pants, so all she had to do was crawl into bed. She slid down while pulling the blanket up over her body and sighed. “Okay Daddy,” She said with a slightly defeated sounding voice.
Annie walked into the room and knelt down in order to kiss her daughter on the head. “Goodnight Mel,” She said to the girl, “I love you.”
Melanie smiled warmly, “I love you too Mommy,” She said with a sigh. Melanie then waited for her father to begin reading to her. But the child was already more tired than she’d insisted and her eyelids were starting to grow heavy.
Charlie appreciated Annie, however, he said nothing to her about that yet. Instead he quietly began to read from the datapad he’d placed in his lap. From time to time he’d look over at his daughter seeing that she was really exhausted. Charlie assumed the girl was probably worried that he’d not be there when she woke up in the morning.
He deactivated the datapad once it was clear that the child was snoring softly, then he got up and switched her light off. Charlie left the room and shut the door from the outside before going around the corner to find Annie already seated in their bed. “Thanks,” He told her as he crawled into his side of the bed.
Annie smiled when her husband came to bed, “She’s probably overly tired and that’s why she was fighting you on sleep,” Annie insisted. Though, the mother thought it might have been a little deeper than that. The child had been excited all day after they’d gotten to the station, and it had been a long trip anyway.
==The entity had been waiting anxiously for this moment, it had decided it wanted to further examine this tiny mortal. However, in order to do so it had to wait until this tiny mortal was alone and in her bed so it cautiously slipped into the room and slowly began to spread itself out and enveloped the girl in her bedroom.
It’s gelatinous form filling the room and effectively making the small room completely sound proof. The entity had also been aware that the parents were still awake and so it’s outer layer was acting as a mirage. Should the door open it would appear as if the tiny mortal was still sound asleep in her bed even though the entity was interacting with her. Once the entity had become certain that it wouldn’t be detected it began by surrounding the child in a type of liquid goo that allowed her to start hovering over her bed.==
Melanie stirred awake when she felt herself being lifted from the mattress where she’d just been laying a moment ago. The child began to blink rapidly, at first feeling as if she was still in a dream like state. It took her tired brain a moment to register that this was real. Her heart started to pound in her chest, and she barely resisted the urge to scream.
The child looked around, trying to get a sense of what was happening. She’d not been removed from the small room her father had just put her to bed in. But, the walls seemed to be shimmering, the pearlescent color of the liquid taking her by surprise. “Wh-what’s happening?” The child asked as she shivered.
The entity encased the child, no longer occupying two planes of existence and rather only occupying one. The tiny mortal was awake and the entity could feel the her confusion as it held her in place just hovering above the mortal’s bed. ‘Do not fear tiny one,’ The entity’s voice echoed soothingly throughout the room. However, it had no mouth capable of signifying that it was speaking to her.
Rather the entity gingerly examined the tiny mortal as it tried to figure out just what she was before it began the examination. It probed at her thoughts finding them scattered and divided as the tiny mortal tried to make sense of what was happening. The entity had expected this from the tiny mortal, that’s what made her so fascinating in the first place.
Melanie looked down the length of her body, her arms and legs dangling as she was still laying flat in the middle of her room. Her hair floating and flowing on top of her head, the sound of the voice seemed to be embedded in her brain. The child thought the goo all around her was strange, she wanted to scream but something stopped her from doing so.
“What are you?” Melanie asked as her voice continued to crack and tremble as she spoke. The child shivered, her heart rate was still high, but it had started to slow down. She was nervously looking around and noticed the shimmering near the door.
Charlie had gotten up to check on his daughter before bed, he stood outside the door for a moment before it finally opened. When it did he saw his little girl laying on her back across her bed. A smile forming across his face, “Sleep tight my little girl.” He said then turned as the door closed behind him once again.
He went and crawled back into bed, “She’s still out,” He confirmed to Annie before turning the bedside light off.
“Good,” Annie answered as she curled in close to her husband as it got dark in the room. She closed her eyes and soon she was sleeping.
Melanie saw her father standing there, but she was confused when he did nothing to help her. The child watched the door open, “Daddy help me…” She managed to say only to see the door closing after he’d said something. Melanie thought it sounded muffled and so she couldn’t make out quite what her father had said.
The entity watched the brief interaction cautiously, then it turned its attention back onto the little girl. The entity registered the larger mortal calling her his little girl. ‘I have made it where your Daddy thinks you’re still sleeping. And now that I have you I can begin my experimentation and examination of you little girl.’
Melanie swallowed hard when she heard what the entity had just told her before recognizing the two strange tendrils that had started to extend toward her head. She looked at either side of her, “What are you doing?” She asked. Her voice was shaking as the words came out of her mouth.
The entity gently cooed, ‘I already told you tiny mortal, I’m going to examine you and perhaps do some experimentation. I think you need to relax,’ The entity began to extend two tendrils toward the girl’s temples. It latched them both to either side of her head creating a better telepathic connection with the girl.
Melanie felt the strange sensation of the tendrils against her temples. It felt like someone had placed cool gel against either side of her head, the child looked back and forth as her body began to relax and she felt strangely warm. Her breathing had slowed, but she didn’t understand what was happening as the entity began to probe her mind a little closer.
‘Interesting,’ The entity cooed gently as it searched the child’s brain. ‘You’re what is known as human, and you’re an adolescent.’ The entity continued to search for the weird emotions that it had detected in others, but beyond some special affection for the child’s parents, the entity found nothing. ‘You’re very young, not sure if you’re useful for further examination. However, I’ve learned a lot.’
Melanie continued to feel strange as she watched the strange liquid floating above her, the eight-year-old was unable to make sense of what was happening. She started to drift to sleep unaware that the entity had finished with her. Soon the room started to spin and the child was slowly being lowered back to her bed.
==The entity had soon returned the young child back to her bed and after making certain to erase the memories of the encounter from her brain it returned to its own plane of existence. The entity realized that perhaps this young child was far too young to serve any type of purpose, it did see some potential in her. Slowly, it pulled itself out of the room then back out of the station. The entity floated back out into space, no longer interacting with the station for the time being.==