when angelica revealed her true nature to me i was not really surprised, i mean i'd always suspected she was from another planet so anything less would not shock me. we were cleaning up, washing and drying, she was standing there with bright yellow rubber gloves, naked from the waist up and wearing heels and a short skirt. i don't know why she liked to dress so provocatively when she did her domestic chores, maybe to get me more involved in the mundane. it worked.

halfway through the dinner dishes she flicked me with some soap suds and stood there waiting to see how i'd react, i waved the spatula in front of her face, smiling i teased, 'not very clever, to splash a man with a spatula in his hand,' she laughed at me and i went to whack her then she said, 'you know, i was clear for a few years, it's changed, i've moved into a different level.'

the spatula stopped in mid-swing and she grabbed it from me, 'i'm actually an ot8.'

'is this some gnostic group, oto, iot, current 88, i don't know what ot8 is angelica.'

'i don't know how to tell you this, i hope you understand, i'd like you to think about joining me.'

'joining you, in what exactly, you know i don't like groups, gangs or cults.'

'captain mission, i am a scientologist.

i flicked the bubbles at her, 'yeah, well i'm not joining.'

'listen,' she directed, 'i am 0t8 now, that's as high as it gets, please listen to what i am saying.'

'okay let's finish the domestics and then we can discuss this but i should warn you i've studied every known and unknown group, infiltrated them all and gone through the ranks only to exit.'
angelica passes me a tea towel and we start working our way through the dishes.
'yeah, well you are the smartest guy in the universe. so how come you have never heard of the ot8 mission?'
'i was fast tracked to a level you don't know about.'
'get out, you were not. there is no level after ot8.'
'oh yeah there is, it's called ctc and there are only a handful of us.'
she pulls off the gloves and slides up to me, her arms wrap around my shoulders, 'what's ctc stand for?'
'clear thetan clear.'
'fuck you mission.'
i grab her waist, 'sure, let's.'
'seriously, i wanna know why i don't know about ctc.'
'i can't answer that.'
'why did they fast track you.'

'i passed the test babe.'

'fuck, really? how come you never told me.'

i shrug my shoulders, go back to cleaning dishes.

'you should have told me, you said you would share everything with me.'

i spin around to face her, soft lips pouting, eyes open wide.

'i do tell you everything but there's a lot of everything and it takes time. you capiche?'

'mission, that's slippery, ' she's sneering but smiles, 'and clever.'

anyway what's ctc all about, please tell me, please?'

'it's cosmic stuff, one you get to that level they just let you go.'

'what the church never let anyone go.'

'they let the ctc's go babe.'

'why?'

'because we don't need it and they know it. we are not agents for the church, we are agents for something bigger and the church know it.'

'this is insane, you are fucking making this up just to annoy me.'

'no way, if i wanted to annoy you i'd just do this,' and with that i flicked a whole large blob of soap suds art her face point black.

'ewe, tell me mission. '

'tell you what?'

'about the ctc status.'

'it means i'm clear babe. clear of mest.'

'how?'

'fate, chance, accident of birth, luck, a strange and an unusual brain, some research, a few good teachers along the way, a healthy attitude to reality and my own personal special ingredient which must remain a mystery.'

'fuck you, come on, tell me what can you do.'

'anything. i want.'

'oh that's kinda sexy,' she says, moving closer.'

'so really do you have any affiliation to them?'

'none. i walked in one day, did all their tests and then more, got invited back for more and yet more and then they proclaimed me in ceremony and i was free.'

'to do what?'

'anything, but i choose my mission.'

standing on her tiptoes her lips almost meet mine, she smells of peaches. 'it's amazing. all this time i thought you had no interest in us.'

'i really don't, it's okay to be part of something, a family, a group, club whatever, religion even but i hold no creed or follow nothing so structured.'

'but you still have the dishes to do.'

'always.'