by Tammy Walsh
I could stand there and be a spectacle to these people or I could let Okhet wrap me in her warm arms.
Right at that moment, I knew which one was more appealing.
I leaned heavily into Okhet as she took me back to the Wake Up Room. I didn’t need long to figure out what’d happened to me.
I’d been abducted, and now I was living with a bunch of female aliens.
I had hit rock bottom.
Okhet helped me into some comfortable clothes and gave me a bed in one of the rooms the gawking girls came out of earlier. They were dorm rooms, with dozens of beds in each. The girls were grouped by species. With no other humans, I was alone. My bed was beside Okhet’s.
I was too depressed to fight. When morning rolled around and Okhet poked me awake (she really didn’t need to as I’d been awake all night) I ignored her.
“I understand this must come as a shock to you,” she said. “But you’re going to get in trouble if you don’t get up.”
I didn’t stir so much as a muscle and continued staring at the same spot on the wall.
It took less than twenty minutes before Shrisa stomped into the room.
“What is she still doing in bed?” she screeched.
“The pod takes a lot out of humans,” Okhet said, covering for me. “I think she was in that pod for a long time.”
I really had no idea how long I’d been away from Earth. What if it’d been centuries? What if there were no humans alive back on Earth when I got there?
As if I needed something else to worry about.
“Creator condemn us!” Shrisa said. “I swear if I was sold a faulty human…”
She threw up her hands in agitation.
“Fine,” she said. “But she’d better recover soon. Every day she’s not working, she’s only increasing her debts.”
She left and Okhet sat on the edge of my bed.
“You’re going to have to work sometime,” she said. “It’s not so bad. We’re all here for the same reason.”
Okhet was kind. She risked getting in trouble for me and all I’d done was ignore her. Something about her choice of words caught my attention.
“The same reason?” I said. “You’re slaves?”
“Slaves?” Okhet said. “What makes you think we’re slaves?”
“Shrisa bought us.”
“Not most of us.”
“Wait,” I said, rolling over to look at her. “You chose to be here?”
“Sure. We all did. We’re looking for our soul mate. Some of us would prefer for that mate to be a Titan rather than our own species.”
“What’s wrong with the men in your species?”
Okhet rolled her eyes.
“Boy, that’s a long conversation right there,” she said.
I couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like something one of my friends would have said. I rubbed a hand over my face. It felt dry and splotchy.
“Then what am I doing here?” I said.
“I don’t know,” Okhet said. “No one does. Except Shrisa. She might seem a bit harsh but she has to be if she wants to run a business like this. If you want to know what happened to you, you should go speak with her.”
“I’m not sure she’s in the mood to speak with me,” I said.
“When it comes to business, she’s always in the mood.”
It felt good to have a friend, even in a place like this.
“Your name’s Okhet, right?” I said, extending my hand. “I’m Vicky. Nice to meet you.”
When she stared at my hand, I reached out and took hers and shook it. The grin that spread across her face was slow but warm. She shook my hand back—with a little too much vigor.
That afternoon, I knocked on Shrisa’s office door.
“Come,” her sultry voice said.
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Ah,” she said. “The great sleeper. I was wondering when you would darken my office. Take a seat.”
She sat there behind her cheap desk with a pile of paper on each corner. Everything about the room seemed so… normal. And yet, I was on a distant world I couldn’t even imagine, surrounded by strange aliens.
It was enough to make anyone bonkers.
“I wanted to know how I ended up here,” I said. “Did you abduct me?”
“No. I didn’t abduct you. I didn’t have you abducted either. And I didn’t order you. I didn’t want a human. Not after the last one we had. You humans… you’re so complicated and difficult. It surprises me why any Titan would want you. There’s someone for everyone.”
I glanced up at the poster behind her. Beneath the STAR CROSS’D LOVERS company title was its tagline: THERE’S SOMEONE FOR EVERYONE.
“What am I doing here?” I said.
“There was some kind of error with your master,” she said. “I always like to see what the market throws up. Sometimes there’s a rare item here and there. If you have the eye for it. He planned on sending you to the pleasure houses but got caught red-handed in a police sting operation. You were still sleeping soundly in your pod. As you’d been abducted, I figured you’d prefer not to end up in a place like that. I took pity on you and bought you cheap.”
She bought me cheap?
I don’t know why I found that so insulting. I mean, was the situation any better if I’d been expensive?
“I run a business,” Shrisa said. “We specialize in being the very best matchmaking service in the empire. We pair exotic species with their ideal Titan mates.”
Exotic species? Ideal Titan mates?
What was she talking about?
“Look, I think there’s been some mistake,” I said. “I didn’t sign up for this.”
“No. You most certainly did not. And after your recent performance, you’d better not misbehave again.”
“I’m sorry about that,” I said. “But I need to return home. Back to Earth.”
“A ticket to Earth is almost three thousand credits. Do you have three thousand credits?”
“No.”
I didn’t even know what a credit was.
“But I’ll pay you back, I swear,” I said. “No matter how long it takes. I give you my word.”
“Your word?” Shrisa said, her voice flat and toneless.
“It means I promise.”
“I guessed,” she said. “I can’t give you three thousand credits for nothing. I bought you so you could be one of my girls. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your true love.”
My throat turned dry.
“Work?” I said. “Here?”
“Titans like rare species,” she said. “The rarer, the better. Don’t ask me why. If one takes a liking to you, you can go live your happily ever after with him. You’re pretty enough. There might be a Titan down on his luck who might be interested.”
“Happily ever after?” I said. “With an alien?”
“All men are aliens, my dear. The sooner you learn that, the better.”
“An alien can’t fall in love with me! I need to go home!”
Shrisa sighed.
“Fine,” she said. “There are two options open to you. Either you join the line-up or I can give you different work—work I’ll pay you for. You can work off the debt you owe me, plus room and board. Then you can either leave or save up for the ticket home.”
“How much will I get paid?” I said.
“For a maid? About ten credits a day. Minus room and board, so let’s say five credits a day.”
I performed a quick calculation. My eyes boggled.
“That’s over one and a half years!” I said.
“That’s for the ticket,” Shrisa said. “You have to reimburse me for what I paid for you first.”
“And how much did I cost?”
“Twelve hundred credits.”
“That’s over two years!” I said. “I can’t wait that long!”
“What other choice do you have?”
Escape! That’s a choice I have!
And for the ne
xt three days, I searched every room, nook, and cranny for how I could get out of there.
There was only one way out.
A door that led to the main client waiting area at the front of the business.
The door none of the girls were allowed through.
Raucous laughter jolted me from my daydream. I found a group of alien girls staring at me over their shoulders and laughing. One held a towel around herself and performed an impression of a girl running naked and in a state of panic.
Me.
She was making fun of me.
I ground my teeth, dropped my cleaning rag, and marched over to confront her.
“Woah, hold up there, partner,” Okhet said, blocking me from carrying out my attack. “I don’t think you want to be doing that.”
“You just watch me,” I said.
I attempted to move around her but she blocked me.
Won’t let me go around you? Then I’ll go through you!
Okhet raised her hands.
“Wait,” she said. “Hear me out. If you attack them, it’ll make Shrisa mad. Those girls are rare species. Even if Shrisa didn’t buy them, she still had to pay to have them brought here. If you damage the merchandise, she’s not going to be happy.”
I tore my eyes from the giggling girls and focused on Okhet’s half-cocked smile. My shoulders unfurled and I thought about what she was saying.
I didn’t like people laughing at me. Especially when I’d done nothing to deserve it.
“I heard what happened to you,” Okhet said. “Being abducted like that… it’s not right. But those girls don’t care about you. They want to see you get thrown out. And when you’re outside, no one’s going to take care of you. Then what? Don’t make your situation worse than it already is. And don’t worry about them. They’re just snotty because they think they’re more developed and smarter than the rest of us.”
“Are they more developed and smarter than the rest of us?” I said.
“Yes. But they’re still in here with us, aren’t they?”
She laughed. It sounded like glass brushed gently by a breeze. I joined her. I couldn’t help but shoot a look over her shoulder at the girls making fun of me. The ringleader lowered the towel and scowled.
See, bitch? It doesn’t feel so hot to be laughed at, does it?
“I remembered where you’re from, by the way,” Okhet said. “We always wondered what level of development you guys have over there. Sometimes we vote to see if we should come and say hi.”
“You’re aware of us?”
“Sure. We have to gauge anyone who might be a threat. That’s why we never reached out to your species before. You guys still have wars, right?”
“Yes. Quite a few.”
“Then you’re a warrior race. That makes you dangerous. But hey, we’ll probably have another vote in a century or two. At least you guys don’t have super-powerful weapons yet.”
“We have nuclear bombs and we started developing space weapons.”
Okhet looked concerned.
“Already?” she said. “I think our people ought to be paying more attention to humans than we thought…”
Oops. Did I just encourage an alien race to spy on humans? Maybe it was a good thing, I told myself, but no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of many movies where the alien race was actually kind toward us.
I hope I didn’t just send us down the path of extinction.
“You’re descended from apes, right?” Okhet said.
“Yeah. How about you?”
“Primordial ooze.”
“Oh.”
I didn’t know whether or not to feel sorry for her.
“Everyone here descended from one species or another,” Okhet said. “It doesn’t matter how we got here, only how we intend to move on. That’s what my mom used to tell me. That’s why I’m here. I’m looking for my fated mate and there are few better mates than a Titan.”
“Why?”
“Come on, girl, where have you been? Oh. Right. On Earth. With no contact or knowledge of the galaxy. Well, they’re the hunks! They’re the most powerful too. And they’re peaceful. They got to where they are by trading and doing business. They didn’t attack or fight like other species to expand their empire. Everyone likes them. Except for the jealous species. If you manage to land yourself a Titan, you’re in good hands. And here’s a secret not many people will tell you… We’re as exotic to them as they are to us! That’s why they like us. We’re different. And Titan culture is much more accepting of other cultures than many out there.”
I didn’t care how smart or hunky or accepting they were. I didn’t want to be owned by a Titan or any other man.
I would keep my head down and work for the next two years until my debt was repaid. I wouldn’t put a foot wrong.
And then, of course, that asshole chose me…
“Don’t fall.”
I spun around to find the Titan with the smoky eyes peering at me. He stood inside the room with his hand perched on the door handle.
“It would be a shame to see something so beautiful splatter on the sidewalk below,” he said.
He looked even better now than he had when I saw him an hour ago. He was tall, broad, and more muscular than I thought. He wore a smile as he crossed the room toward me. He moved well, like an Olympic athlete on legs that wouldn’t quit.
“I couldn’t fall anyway,” I said, my voice sounding small and pathetic. “The windows don’t open.”
“They might not open,” he said. “But they can be broken.”
Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? I could have hurled a chair through it and…
What, exactly?
Fall to my death the way he was warning me not to do?
Or grow sticky hands like Spider-Man so I could scale my way to freedom?
“Please, take a seat,” the alien hunk—uh, the guy—said.
“Will you sit for a minute to discuss an… arrangement I think you might be interested in?”
He was soft and gentle in the way he spoke. His expression was open and calm.
I edged down into a seat.
“Would you like something to drink or eat?” he said. “I’m sure I can get something.”
I shook my head.
He took a seat opposite me. His chair seemed far too close. I should have moved it back a little… maybe a couple of rooms. Then I would have felt comfortable.
I kept my eyes firmly on him. If he tried anything, I would scoop that lamp up and swing it at his head. I could bolt through the door and maybe, if I was very lucky, I could escape this place.
“First, let me introduce myself,” he said. “My name is Dyrel.”
He performed a strange movement. He brought a fist to his chest and smiled at me. I had no idea what it meant.
He caught himself staring at me and lowered his hand.
“Right,” he said. “You don’t know our traditions. We do this movement when we meet someone for the first time. It’s a polite thing to do. Not that you need to know that. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I chose you. You’re probably wondering what the other reasons I chose you are.”
The thought had occurred to me. I mean, he could have had any of the girls in this place. They fawned over him like he was the Messiah. All I wanted to do was escape.
“I need a little help from you with something,” he said.
He frowned in thought.
“This… This is a lot harder than I expected,” he said.
He leaned forward, coming a little too close for my liking. My arm tensed, ready to fly out and grab that lamp in an instant. If he came forward just one more inch, I would let rip.
“It’s like this,” he said. “I’m from a wealthy family.”
I felt sorry for him already.
“And my mom, she’s, well, kind of traditional,” he said. “She wants me to take over the family business. In fact, I was supposed to have taken it over already.”
&
nbsp; Poor guy. It was such a tragedy he had to put up with his millions and his opportunities—nothing like being abducted and sold not once, but twice!
“And she’s threatening to withhold my inheritance money,” he said. “What that means is, I’ll be broke and I’ll have nothing. But I convinced her to give me a little time. A month. She’ll let me keep my inheritance if I convince her I’ve found someone—a girl—that I intend on settling down with. That would be you. When you’re ready, I’ll arrange a meeting between the three of us. I’ll propose to you. You’ll say yes, and then we can plan for the wedding. Don’t worry—the wedding will never happen. It’s just a ploy to get my mom to believe I’ve changed.”
I stared at him.
I just stared.
Did he say what I thought he said?
He wanted me to be his… fake fiancée?
He leered as if he expected me to say something. His eyes dropped to the translator strip on my neck.
He thought there was something wrong with the tech preventing me from understanding what he was saying.
It’s not the tech, dude. It’s what you said that’s got me confused.
“Maybe I should get someone to help with the strip?” he said.
“It’s not the strip,” I said. “I understood what you said.”
“Oh. Okay. Good.”
He smiled and those dimples blossomed. I tried not to let them distract me.
“So, what do you think?” he said.
“I think… you’re nuts,” I said. “Crazy. Off-the-scale insane. Do you have any idea what you said to me? Because if those were the words you intended on saying, I think you ought to check into a mental hospital.”
His smile faltered but didn’t disappear.
“I see,” he said.
“Actually, no,” I said. “I don’t think you do see. I was abducted and sold at a market—for a cheap price, I might add. I refused to be one of these ‘exotic girls’ that you Titans are supposed to be attracted to, so the woman that owns this place—”
“Shrisa.”
“Yes, Shrisa, hired me as her maid. For some unknown reason, you chose me instead of all those gorgeous girls out there. You weren’t even supposed to see me. I was supposed to be invisible. Now you come in here with this crazy story like I’m supposed to leap for joy and be excited because I was the lucky one who was chosen for this shit.”
