Simple Choices by Longshot (f, qs) Amy awoke to the sound of her alarm. She was excited, tonight was to be her first live newscast covering a real story. She had to pick just the right outfit. She wanted to look professional, yet capture the sex appeal that was sure to draw more viewers and get her more live shots, and more airtime. Of course with more airtime meant she could be quicker to climb into one of the coveted anchor newsperson chairs. Maybe even get that snotty little, suck up whore, Kristine out of her rightful slot. She knew she had lost the slot to her because the boss thought Kristine was cuter, but she decided she'd change that. She pulled out a black business suit with a short skirt, black pantyhose and black heels. The suit would make her look professional while the skirt and hose would give her that added boost to sex appeal. She smiled as she got into her clothes and looked herself over in the mirror. "You definitely have the look girl," she said confidently to no one in particular. She quickly headed out to the location where she was to meet her news crew. There was to be a grand opening of a new mall today, it was a human interest story, but better than the last one she'd been sent on. Something about a puppy who'd been trapped in a well for a day or two. It was such minor news it had been pushed back to the closing story. The one that came after the sports and was usually of so little interest that most people had already switched to another channel by the time it was aired. This one however was going to be third from the top, just after the murder of some kids and some nonsense about congress cracking down on a software company's near monopoly of the market. Then was hers. She was to assist the mayor in the opening of a "New Safer Mall for the City" as she was to cover the ribbon cutting ceremony. Well she didn't really assist, but it was her station that was one of the sponsors of the ceremony, and she'd pulled the right strings to get to cover the story. The ceremony went off without a hitch, and they were just about to cut the life feed of an otherwise disappointing human interest story. As she was wondering what idiot thought up that term a dazzling flash, followed by a shimmering blue portal, which just sort of sat there, opened just to her right. She was surprised but quickly took advantage of the opportunity this offered her, as she began to do a live feed on the area. The newscast would make her known as one of the best, although stupidest reporters in history later. However, for the moment it was like a miracle dropped out of the sky, and she was there to cover it. She reported like a true star that night, and the next day they honored her with a memorial for what could have been one of the best reporters that the channel and most major news stations had ever seen, just for sheer bravery. The report went something like this: "This is Amy Brockers, reporting live from the site of the new 'Safe Mall' where something that the people crowding around are describing as several things, an alien portal, a rift to another dimension, even a secret government test project. Whatever it is, this reporter will get you the scoop, as I will go in firsthand." The camera shook at this point as if the cameraman refused to follow, though when it stopped Amy was at the edge of the rift. "My cameraman has refused to follow, so I am going to switch to a personal camera as I go through the rift." At this moment she stepped through. There were several shouted warnings, none heeded. The rift closed up as she entered and blinked out. "While the scientific community was cursing her name, to us and me, Amy Brockers, you are a true American Hero. We hope that your journey was a safe one, wherever you are. This is Kristine Goodman, wishing you a good and safe night." --End of Transmission-- Amy awoke in a strange place. She hadn't remembered much since she stepped through the rift. She remembered a falling sensation, then hitting something, and blackness. She almost screamed as she saw the squat, reddish skinned humanoid. It stood barely three feet tall with a pear shaped body. There was one eye at the top of the pear which looked vaguely human-like, except for the deep bluish-green color of its iris. Its arms were long and ended in three fingered hands, its legs and feet resembled something like those of a bird, except for the reddish tint to them as well. The thing spoke, although it didn't seem to have a visible mouth. "Welcome ... creature of the third round rock from the star Sol. I am N'qwz, owner of this moon on which you now find yourself." Amy blinked. "You ... speak ... English?" she spat out with some effort. The creature made an odd gesture with it's arms. It did it again and realizing she didn't understand it spoke again. "There is a translating device, our species is far more advanced than yours. However that is not important now. You have been summoned here for a purpose. We wish to study your people and have devised a special series of tests, which will tell us a great deal." Amy gasped. She couldn't believe this! Her, a guinea pig for these ... things? No way! She tried to run at him but ran into an invisible force shield which shimmered with a purple glow at her touch. Seeing that she couldn't get past it she ran out the door. N'qwz made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh. "The female creature in its odd garb has responded to the first test. Its reaction at its fate was to try and bring harm to me, then to flee as if it could escape." Amy ran through some tube like room, she guessed it to be a tunnel of some sort as it lead out to the moon's surface. She looked behind her as she took panting breaths, relieved that nothing was following her. She looked around at the landscape. It was different than she always expected from a moon. It seemed to be covered with a fine off white sand. A little ways off was an odd assortment of orange and blue plants. At least she thought they were plants. She hadn't a clue what anything was, but she did know she wished she'd worn something other than what she was before jumping through that rift. She sighed to herself as she began to walk through the sand. "No time to worry about that now," she muttered to herself. Amy walked maybe an eighth of a mile before she finally gave up on her heels. The sand was loose and they made walking next to impossible. Although she wasn't sure if the sand would hurt her, and it had been the major idea against taking them off. She finally leaned down slowly and touched the sand. It didn't sting, and she didn't fall over dead or get sick. She ran a little through her fingers and laughed at her foolishness. She'd been worried about a little ordinary moon sand. She slipped off her heels one by one and set her stocking feet down on the soft, dry sand. It felt good to get the heels off and she started to wiggle her toes a little when she realized she couldn't move them. Amy looked down and blinked. To her horror and surprise she found that her feet had disappeared into the innocent looking sand. Oddly the sand didn't feel so dry anymore either, but she didn't seem to be sinking anymore. Just standing there, ankle deep in wet sand. She shrugged as she decided she'd gotten upset over nothing until she tried to take a step forward. She frowned as her feet seemed to fail to answer her command to move forward. She tried again, and still her feet refused to move. She heard a few soft noises and felt her calves get a bit wet. She looked down to see half of them disappear into the mire, and stop. She screamed. Thoughts raced through her mind as she wondered what was going on. She began to pull at her legs, her hands sliding up the sheer nylon in a futile effort to pull her legs free. This effort caused her to sink a little more, to her knees. She let go of her legs and just stood there, trying to catch her breath, trying to be calm. It dawned on her at this time that the sand wouldn't pull at her legs if she didn't pull on them. Meanwhile, up in the observatory, N`qwz made notes. "Hmm it seems the female has discovered that her leg coverings, that they call pantyhose, are the thing reacting with the sand causing her to sink in. Ah, she has discovered that by pawing at the sand with her hands she may be able to dig herself out. Most interesting, the female has taken her oddly shaped footwear, which has no logical purpose except as a form of torture, and started to use it as a primitive digging tool. It seems that the human creature is capable of learning and dealing with problems, although its first reaction, it is interesting to note, was fear and panic." Amy dug herself out and slipped her heels back on. She was almost surprised that she didn't sink, except for the stems of the heels sinking into the loose sand. She walked a while longer and was thrilled to reach the more vegetated part of the area. She took of on heel and gently set a stocking foot on the ground, then applied a little weight, as if half expecting the ground to suck up her leg. When nothing happened after a moment she slipped off the other heel grateful again to be out of the uncomfortable shoes. She was just beginning to wonder why she wore them when something else caught her eye. It was like an oasis in the desert, perhaps not a totally inappropriate reference as about twenty yards away was a cool looking lake. In his observation booth N'qwz commented, "The creature survived the first trap, however it is moving directly towards the second. As these experiments are to study the creatures reaction to the naturally occurring hazard the humans foolishly call quicksand, this trap shall also contain the substance, however it will not be as easy to escape. It too is designed to react to the pantyhose the creature wears on its legs. Another silly name for a garment that the humans have thought up and it is yet another example of the female of the species's willingness to subject itself to uncomfortable garments to please the visual nerves of the males of the species. However it is easily lured into a trap by an image that it finds pleasing to its visual nerves. It astounds me how much this species relies on that one sense instead of developing the other senses to their fullest potential." Amy crept up to the muddy shore of the lake, and after a few experimental taps of her black nylon clad foot she walked bravely out onto the muddy bank. N'qwz made the laughing sound again. "It is also of interest to note that the creature, while displaying the ability to learn and try and outsmart its environment, it will still fall prey to the same trap twice." Amy walked along until she felt that familiar sensation under her feet and groaned inwardly. She looked down to see her feet trapped in the ground again. She looked around and realized she'd left her heels back near the beginning of this vegetation. She leaned down to try and dig her feet up, although for every bit she dug up, it only seemed to refill where it has been, and she was slowly sinking. She felt her calves sliding in and then stop. The mud around her legs was cold and clammy, like huge invisible hands that had grabbed her ankles and was just holding them. Panic began to set in and she began a frantic dance of pumping her legs up and down. With each frantic movement she sank a little deeper. Knees, and then thighs began to disappear into the brown, trapping mud. As she stopped to catch her breath her sinking stopped as well. Her black skirt was beginning to fan out on the surface just a tad. She screamed in frustration and began to cry. She looked about. "Please ... let me go! Wherever you are ... just ... let me go!" As if it had heard her she felt the mud about her begin to move. She was sinking, and fast! She felt it consume her waist, belly and even her breasts like she was some sort of piece of spaghetti. She felt the mire close around her neck, and it seemed like she didn't even have time to tilt her head back before the darkness consumed her. Amy awoke to the sound of her alarm. She was excited, tonight was to be her first live newscast covering a real story. She had to pick just the right outfit. She wanted to look professional, yet capture the sex appeal that was sure to draw more viewers and get her more live shots, and more airtime. Of course with more airtime meant she could be quicker to climb into one of the coveted anchor newsperson chairs. Maybe even get that snotty little, suck up whore, Kristine out of her rightful slot. She knew she had lost the slot to her because the boss thought Kristine was cuter, but she decided she'd change that. She pulled out a black business suit with a short skirt, black pantyhose, and black heels. The suit would make her look professional while the skirt and hose would give her that added boost to sex appeal. She stopped as she put on her heels and began to look herself over in the mirror. Something about it all seemed so familiar, as if she'd done it before. She shrugged and headed for the door. She had to hurry to meet her news crew. N'qwz made the odd laughing noise again. "The third test is a complete success. The subject is not aware that it has repeated the events of the previous day, this is the 14th consecutive time, and only now has it begun to suspect anything abnormal with it's daily routine. This planet is ready for conquer. The inhabitants are dull witted and apathetic. We always knew those television devices would create the perfect slaves for us if we simply gave them time and allowed them to integrate it into their society."