"I am here, human Tom."<br/><br/>Indeed she was, though she had found the process to be unpleasant. It hadn't been painful in the strictest sense of the word, but unpleasant. More so than the simple motions of sitting in a chair and having something placed on your head should have been. The alien rolled her shoulders, a much more expansive movement than it's human counterpart. Her eyes peered into the darkness, nose slits flaring to take in her bearings. It was not a naturally darkness, not a deepened shadow that could be coaxed to reveal its secrets. This was true blackness, nothingness. The very idea made her skin crawl.<br/><br/>She tried to hold the idea that it was simply a simulation in her mind like a torch, but the truth of it proved feeble against the reality her senses were painting for her. As if sensing her thoughts,<em>perhaps it was,</em>the darkness slowly resolved into matter. Ix turned slowly, surprised to find Tom a great deal further away than his voice had suggested he should be. Her skin prickled again, the notion of not being able to rely on her own senses coldly worming its way deep into her stomach.