As I walk away from the ruins of my childhood home, I feel liberated, more then I had ever felt in my life. Stepping over the remnants of the foundation, and looking through the neighbor’s yard, I could see the top of Violet’s head. She was shrinking back down in the desolate, snow-covered park.

I walk to her slowly, my body feeling calm for the first time in years. My smile shook as tears streamed from my face.

Tears of liberation, and joy of finding a tunnel out of the hole my life had been. Arriving in the park, Violet was in the process of hiding the Arrow in a small gathering of bushes, well hidden from the road. She turned to me, silent.

As tears streamed from my face I embraced her. There was only one thing to be said, I whisper in her ear: “Thank you for saving me.”

She pulls me in tighter, her vibrant blue hair covering my face, her hands rubbing my back, “I couldn’t just leave you…”

“It’s over… It’s over…” The tears flow freely, as I experience the first moments of freedom in my life.

She sighs in my ear, “It is…” she pushes me out just in front of her, locking her eyes on mine. “You are free, and you always will be.” After saying this, Violet pulled me back in, her hands glowing red. As soon as she embraces me, the world grows as I shrink for the first time.

I would be afraid… if I hadn’t just annihilated the source of my lifetime of horror. I was with a woman who clearly cared for me, and I truly believe she has no intention to harm me. She takes my hand, pulling me to the ship, breaking my trace.

“Wow, looks a lot bigger now.”

“It’s my home, of course it’s bigger, come on in!”

Entering the ship was, in short, unbelievable. It was spacious, and extremely open. The front of the ship had two chairs focused on what I believe is a navigation system. It looked unlike anything I’ve ever seen, like holograms.

Violet pulled me along through the kitchen and eating area, the tables were made with her hard light. Projected out, but with a switch it could all be turned off. The kitchen had interesting round objects, which I can’t decipher without Violet’s assistance.

The back of the ship has a silver ball, with two tubes extending out to the sides, colored blue, and two red pipes going to the floor. Controls and tools litter the floor and cover a hard light workbench.

Violet pulls me to a ladder, as she laughs, “I’m not dragging you up the ladder, so come on.” Snapping back from my observation of this incredible little ship I climb up the ladder, arriving in a beautiful bedroom.

I am “Are those windows, because I don’t remember seeing windows?” I ask, pointing to the ceiling through which I can see outside, the undersides of bushes and tree branches are easily visible.

She smiles, “No, they are screens, so while you can see outside, you can also…” she walks to a control panel next to her bed, grabbing a hologram and turning, throwing it onto the ceiling, the view dissolves, focusing now on whatever it is she threw up there.

“While I’m sure all of this is cool, you can look around later, right now I want you to rest from the shock of all this… change.” She waves her hands about for emphasis. “Okay?”

“Okay, can I shower or clean up, because I’m really gross?”

“I can do better than that.” Curious about what she means, I observe as she presses some controls on the wall, she covers her face with her hand, and turns to me as the air starts to smell… sweet… and a little tangy, just as I pass out.

…………

I hear a voice, “Hey Alice…” I roll over in bed, and I hear it again as something jostles my shoulder, “Alice!”

Slapping back at whatever it is, I groan, “No, no no…”

“Alice, you’ve been sleeping for 15 hours” I open my eyes, to find myself in Violet’s bed. My eyes shoot open.

“What the hell happened?”

Violet giggles, “You wanted a shower... so I took a little time to clean and heal you…”

“You did what?!” I feel... violated, she should have asked!

Violet raises her hands, “Alice, you were injured… I’ve never seen someone with so many bruises and contusions… you must have been in so much pain.”

I’m panicking, confused, worried, and my body feels different. “What the hell did you do Violet?” I tear at the sheets, to get them off of me.

Violet approaches me slowly, pulling up on the nightie I was now wearing. “See, you are all better.”

The skin of my stomach was clear… no scars… no bruises. “I don’t… what?”

I don't feel violated anymore, my feelings of panic and anger instantly dissolve. I touch the fresh, beautiful skin, and for the first time in a long time it feels... nice... I actually feel no pain. I close my eyes, basking in the feeling of my refreshed body. Then I feel a light touch on my left side, and the pleasure is like electricity, I had never felt like this. I turn, tightly embracing Violet around her neck, “This is amazing… Thank you... so much.”

She smiles, “Well I have more to show you,” she motions toward the wall, I follow her and stand next to her, as she touches the wall it shimmers and becomes a reflective surface, I see myself standing beside Violet. Only I don’t look like myself.

Approaching the mirror for a closer look, I gasp, running my finger from my chin to my eye… where an enormous scar once marred my face. All the little marks from the years living in tyranny were… healed… My blonde hair looked healthy and beautiful, even the bags under my green eyes were cleared... I look to her my voice cracking as I try to bring some sense of gratitude, “Violet…”

Violet grinned, putting a single finger over my mouth, “You deserve it, beautiful,” she tugs at me again, “it’s time to leave.”

Still in shock, I turn and follow my benefactor, “Where are we going Violet?” I ask as she excitedly leads me to the front of the ship. Upon arrival, she sits in the right seat. “You can sit in the left chair, just don’t touch anything.” Looking over, Violet smiles, “Until I teach you… and Ed, I need a course to Auru.”

I look over to Violet, thoroughly confused, “Who the hell is Ed?”

She casually points up without looking away from her screen, “Why don’t you ask?”

I raise my eyebrow, looking around, to nowhere in general, “Hello… Ed?”

“It is nice to welcome you to the Arrow Alice, I am the Arrow’s Artificial Intelligence, and I’m around if you need me.”

I look back to Violet for an explanation. She is all smiles, clearly enjoying my confusion. She touches my shoulder, “Ed is an AI, he controls the Arrow’s Extra-solar Drive… a space engine, and I call him Ed.

Ed’s vaguely simulated voice echoes through the room again, “I’m just here to help, if you need anything, ask.”

Violet’s smile simply won’t fade, she taps at the controls, making a number of adjustments to her station, “Ready Ed?”
“Of course, the course is plotted.”

“Good.” Violet smirks as she takes the controls and the Arrow hovers from the ground as all the walls appear to dissolve and show an exterior view. Moving forward, we fly over my old home, it is surrounded by fire trucks and police cars, clearing trying to figure out what happened.

Violet laughs, “We had better get back to our normal size… see that red and blue circle near your left hand, turn until it shows 100%.”

I look down to the controls, and find the knob she was talking about. Upon touching the control the indicators all translate to English. “The scale is .5%?” Violet just laughs, twisting her wrist in the air to the right, so I do. It raises, and as I spin the knob I feel something like power… like my body is growing, as the ship grows… we do too! Upon reaching 100% I decide to test Ed’s capabilities. “Ed, how tall am I right now?”

“Fifteen meters, and thirty centimeters Miss Alice.”

I sit back in the chair… a huge grin spread across my face, “I’m huge!”

Violet points forward, “Look Alice, we’re in space!” I stand up, looking out at the vast emptiness of space through the screens, my new… home. While I’m lost in the observation, Violet grabs my arm, “You might want to hold on to something.”

I sit down, holding the arms of the chair tightly as she accelerates again, flying over the earth at speeds which NASA could only imagine.

I grip my seat as Violet accelerates in another direction, tapping a couple controls above her, “Ready Ed?”

Ed responds with an exact replication of his earlier utterance, “Of course, the course is plotted.”

The silver ball, which I assume is the engine, in the back of the ship begins to hum, vibrating lightly. The stars outside suddenly blur and appear to flow to the back of the ship, turning blue, then purple, and everything outside darkens as the screens return to a light blue color scheme, blocking out the view.

I stare out the still transparent front window, when a timer appears that shows the time remaining to Auru.

It read: “3 Hours 46 Minutes”

Violet turns to me, grabbing my knee and… well, more serious this time, “We are on our way to my home Auru, so it’s time to talk about what to expect.” She helps me out of the chair, embracing me. “You have a lot to learn, come on!”

This time Violet doesn’t push me, but she does skip to the back of her ship, where her workbench is. I follow, but take a different route through a hall on the port side. Walking through the hall, I notice a ladder going down under the floor, presumably allow access to repair broken stuff. The hall ends at Violet’s workspace.

I step up onto a raised platform while her back is turned, and I float about half a meter off the ground. Surprised, I let out a little squeak.

Violet spins around. “Oh, good, you’re getting this!” she walks around behind me, tapping controls. Suddenly what looks like her armor appears around me, covering my nightie, it resizes and modifies itself, a smaller chest, and wider hips, as well as a less hourglass figure, until it appears skintight.

“Okay, what color would you like Alice?” Violet inquires, still behind me.

“Ummmmmm… yellow?” With a couple taps the image ripples, showing the accents as yellow. “No… too bright… how about pink?” Once again, the image shimmers, displaying the modification.

Violet laughs behind me, “It’s cute!”

“It’s still too bright though, can we try red?” As soon as the change occurs, I look down at myself, I like this color. “Okay, that’s good.”

Violet walks back around in front of me, now holding a glowing blue pen, she taps at my waist, drawing a skirt onto the bodice of the armor. She leans down, changing some of the components of the legs, including a shin guard her armor doesn’t have. She continues working for a few minutes, before turning around and touching the wall.

As a mirror shimmers into existence, she smiles at me and asks, “What do you think?”

Looking at myself in the mirror, I am shocked at how good the armor looks.

“If you don’t like the first version Alice, we can change it later.” Violet smiles again reaching up and offering her hand. The image around me dissolves, and I am once again in my nightie. I take Violet’s hand and step down… I could have very easily done it alone, but there she is reaching out to me, expressing kindness which I had never before experienced.

She runs her fingers through my hair, her eyes piercing me. “You looked nice in the armor… and you… look nice.” I smile, walking forward, letting her hand go as I go to the kitchen, “Well I’m hungry.”

Violet laughs with her signature melodic tone, “Wait for me!”