Linda stayed rigid, still frozen in shock as Qyx went on to (sort of) explain how the ship’s cloaking device worked. Ordinarily, the explanation would’ve still sounded like sci-fi technobabble… but the fact that she’d just [i]seen[/i] a [i]fucking space ship[/i] materialize in the air out of nowhere sort of prevented her from thinking that way. Her eyes stayed glued to the ship as she watched its tail swish like an excited housepet, and as a long ramp came down from the entrance to welcome them all aboard. [i]Just like in the movies…[/i] she replied internally, still stunned by the whole thing. 

As the others filed on board, Linda hesitantly followed — not wanting to be left behind in all this craziness. While, logically, it would probably make more sense to [i]not[/i] get on board a mysterious should-be-fictional spaceship owned by an alien stranger whose true intentions may very well be hidden… but her curiosity just dragged her in. She followed the others inside a bit nervously, keeping her head down as she still struggled to take it all in, finding her surroundings absolutely breathtaking. 

Finding a place to sit down, Linda grew rigid in fright at the word “kidnapping”, but tried to relax as Qyx said she was kidding, her fear flowing out of her in the form of nervous laughter. “So, wait,” she spoke up. “You said we were going into orbit. Does that mean we’ll all be weightless? Or is this like all those sci-fi movies and shows where everyone has ‘artificial gravity’?” she asked, making air-quotes as she said the words “artificial gravity”. “In fact, are we in space right now?” she asked, getting up from her seat in search of a window. 

Overwhelmed with all her own questions, Linda found herself a bit too distracted to answer many of Qyx’s, having completely forgotten to even share her own name.