by A. G. Wilde
She missed her father.
“Wonder if he’s okay…”
“Who?”
Nia jumped at the voice and turned to see Riv not far behind her.
He had a way of sneaking up without her hearing. His brother did as well.
Either they walked really quietly, or she had bad hearing.
“Oh, Riv! Morning.”
Riv grunted, his eyes boring into hers.
The tall blue-skinned male wasn’t wearing his shades or face covering this morning, and she got a good view of his scowl.
“Up early again.”
Nia nodded. “As always.” She bit back a little chuckle as she thought about telling him exactly why she’d been up so early for the past few months.
She doubted the couples knew how loud they were.
They weren’t doing it on purpose and, well, she didn’t want to spoil their fun.
Riv grunted and walked toward the umu enclosures.
“Oh, I fed the umus already.”
Riv paused, turned his head, and gave her a look that asked “why?” before the scowl on his face looked like it transformed into stone.
He crossed his arms and glared at her. “What is wrong with you, human?”
Nia blinked at him. Despite the obvious anger on his face, she wasn’t afraid of him.
If living around him for the past few months told her anything, he was only upset because he cared.
They all cared for her—Sohut, Cleo, Lauren, Riv—in their own ways.
She’d been ripped from her family on Earth, and now she had a new one.
“Riv?” Lauren called from the doorway. The woman’s blond hair blew in the slight wind, and so did the white nightgown she was wearing.
Her face was flushed, probably from her mate’s ministrations not long before, and her gaze bounced between them. “Did she do all the work again?”
“Yes,” Riv growled, but his growl wasn’t threatening. As a matter of fact, his face softened as it fell on Lauren and her rounded belly.
She was starting to show already.
In the next few months, there was going to be yet another being living on the Sanctuary. A half-merssi, half-human.
Nia smiled.
Was she selfish to want the baby to come quickly just so she could snuggle it?
“Niaaa,” Lauren said. “You really don’t have to work so hard. I swear you’re like one of those robots in the fields.”
“Worse,” Riv muttered.
“I told you guys, I don’t mind.” Nia dropped the pebbles and dusted her hands on her trousers.
When she glanced up, they were both looking at her as if they thought she was lying.
It was Nia’s turn to chuckle. “Really, I don’t.”
Lauren caressed her belly. “Well, you should come in anyway. We’re heading to the Exchange to get a few things. Thought you’d want to tag along…”
Something buzzed inside Nia and she almost jumped for joy.
The Exchange was like a huge market—no, it was the market of markets.
It was busy; it was fun; it was exciting…
They didn’t go to the Exchange regularly because Riv hated the place and she never went with Sohut and Cleo because their idea of travel usually included heading off into some wilderness tracking wild animals.
But those weren’t the only reasons they hardly visited the Exchange.
The market could be dangerous if you were new to Hudo society. There was always someone watching from the shadows, ready to rob you…or worse.
“You’re heading to the Exchange?”
“Yea.” Lauren smiled. “I mean…we’ve been thinking about it. We need some supplies for the baby.” She rubbed her stomach.
“Oh, well, I’m in!” Nia hopped off the mound of hay and headed toward the house.
Lauren’s concerned gaze held hers as she approached.
“Are you sure? It’s kinda dangerous and…”
And she was an illegal alien.
Yea, she knew.
“I know, but I’ll have you and Riv there with me.” Nia smiled. “Plus, you’ll need help carrying the bags.”
Lauren paused, studying her for a few moments before she smiled.
“Okay. If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure.”
As sure as she was ever going to be. If not for opportunities like this, she’d be stuck on the Sanctuary forever.
They’d just have to be careful while at the Exchange. It wasn’t the first time they’d be making a trip out there, and it wouldn’t be their last.
And like the last time, everything would go smoothly.
Right?
Nia pushed back the little thread of doubt weaving in her mind.
Everything would be fine.
3
As the hover car sped across the plain, the tall yellow-orange grass swayed in the wind.
Off in the distance, she could see wild grazing oogas, their large bodies standing out against the grass.
Nia adjusted the hood of the huge brown cloak over her head.
It was big enough that it hid her face almost completely.
She was even wearing one of Riv’s face coverings over her nose and mouth.
The cloak closed in front and hung all the way down to her toes. It also covered her hands, reaching the tips of her fingers.
She was pretty sure she wouldn’t draw attention with this get up. No one would know she was human underneath this thing.
But that wasn’t the whole reason she was covered.
Her gaze fell on Lauren, who was sitting in the front of the vehicle beside Riv.
Lauren didn’t have to wear a cloak.
She had a hand resting on Riv’s thigh and her identification bracelet was clearly visible.
It had arrived just a few days after Nia had turned up at the Sanctuary and they’d taken a trip back to the Exchange so she could get her official registration mark—a tattoo in the center of her wrist.
Nia looked at her own wrist.
Her bracelet and tattoo were fake.
Somehow, Riv had acquired them for her just for trips like this.
Unlike Lauren, hers didn’t grant her any special rights or any liberties.
She wasn’t in the system—she was an illegal alien—and it was going to stay that way for a while or, at least, until she could find a way to register herself.
As the hover car continued speeding along, Nia sighed and unfocused her gaze.
She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but eventually, she’d have to find a way.
Refugees needed a sponsor before they were granted residency on Hudo III and said sponsor had to give up half of all they owned to do so.
Riv had sponsored Lauren, and Sohut had sponsored Cleo.
They were safe. It was only she alone who wasn’t registered, and for that reason, Riv had acquired the fake IDs.
If anyone asked, she could quickly flash them and get on her way, but she was hoping that the cloak would keep her hidden.
She didn’t know for how long she’d zoned out, but the plain soon turned into bits of civilization.
Little bottle-shaped dwellings popped up now and then before they were zooming through what could be a small town.
The buildings gradually got bigger, the roads as well, till they were in the city. Traffic moved in a way she would never understand.
There weren’t any stop signs, yet each driver seemed to know exactly what it was doing. It didn’t take long after that before they were suddenly pulling into a huge parking area filled with other hover vehicles.
She could already hear the hum of the Exchange beyond the huge gates.
It was the sort of hum that came about when many people were in the same location, a million conversations happening at once.
Riv pulled into a bay, hopped out, and headed around to the other side to allow Lauren to alight.
He moved to help her too, but she’d already launched herself over the side
of the vehicle and was waiting on them.
“Ready?” Lauren asked.
Nia nodded.
As they headed inside, Lauren and Riv in front and Nia at the back, Nia kept her head bowed.
The cloak covered her fully, but that didn’t mean she was going to go staring aliens in their faces.
Though most of the aliens around them looked like regular shoppers, she couldn’t be too cautious.
It was not until they were on one of the streets that she looked up. She almost gasped in awe.
There were floating holographic creatures in the air and she quickly realized they were like balloon animals that children could buy. A few alien children were hopping beside their parents at the stall where the balloon animals floated from, and if she had the money and wasn’t with Riv and Lauren, she’d have probably snuck off to go get one for herself.
Around them, the crowd was thick and it moved like a wave.
Now and then, she was bumped by the aliens passing by her, and if she’d never been to the Exchange before, she’d have stopped in awe to stare at them.
There were red aliens and white aliens, black aliens and green ones. There were tall aliens with antennae and short squat ones. Some had smooth skin, some had skin that was coarse or hairy. Some were bald, some had hair that moved on its own.
It was a unique melting pot of cultures and it was…awesome.
Each time they visited the Exchange, she felt a sort of sadness when she thought about where she’d come from: Earth.
To think most humans thought they were alone in the universe… If they saw what she was seeing…lived what she’d lived…
As they continued on, her gaze switched to something else.
There were so many things to see, countless species of aliens, and so many types of wares, she wasn’t sure where to look at times.
More than once they paused at a stall because Lauren was just as awed as she was.
“Look at this!” Lauren reached forward to touch a wisp of smoke that floated into the air. The merchant at the stall was smoking something that looked like a huge needle with a ring on one end and blowing the smoke through what she assumed was his nose?
Somehow, he was making shapes with the wisps and she was partly captivated and turned off at the same time.
“What is that? How does he do that…” Her murmur caught Riv’s ear and he grunted.
“Woogli smoke.” With that, he steered Lauren forward, and they continued on their way.
He seemed to know exactly where he was taking them, judging from the way he walked with confidence, weaving them through one street to the other, and Nia was happy to follow along behind.
When they finally stopped walking, it was in front of a stall with some hovering cylinders.
She didn’t realize what they were until one of the things slid open.
“Oh, a cradle!”
Lauren beamed and reached forward to touch the nearest one.
The things looked expensive but she knew Riv wouldn’t mind. He’d gladly give an arm and a leg to make Lauren happy.
As she glanced around at the throng of aliens moving up and down the street, Nia vaguely heard Lauren’s oohs and ahhs as she looked at some of the other cradles.
She could sense Lauren’s excitement, but something else had caught her attention.
On the other side of the street, there was a group of aliens in robes similar to the one she was wearing.
Nia frowned a little as she watched them.
“Hey, guys, looks like my fashion choice isn’t so abnormal…” she said, but with the noise surrounding them, it didn’t seem like Riv or Lauren heard.
They were too busy discussing which of the cradles would be best and the merchant was arguing, and trying, it seemed, to sell them the most expensive one.
Riv was translating what Lauren said to the merchant—because only the few people they knew personally had English uploaded to their translator devices—and he scowled at the merchant while doing so.
Nia huffed a laugh through her nose. Poor merchant didn’t know who he was up against.
She was about to glance back toward the group of cloak-wearing aliens when one of them suddenly bumped into her.
“What are you doing, fool? You want to get beaten? Move it!” She could hardly see the face of the alien that spoke, but alarm rose within her as he pushed her and she stumbled into the middle of their group.
They were walking together heading down the street and Nia realized quickly that she was being pushed along, caught within their close formation.
“What? No. I’m not—I’m not with you.”
She tried to get out of their way and to safety at the side of the street, but there were so many of them, about twenty at least, and freeing herself from within their midst was proving difficult.
The frustration of being five foot five and thin hit her hard.
It was like being caught in a crowd of moving people who were headed in a singular direction while she was struggling to go the other way.
“Um, excuse me.” She struggled to find her footing and make it out of the middle of the group, but that wasn’t working. “EXCUSE ME!”
“Phek. It looks like this one drank too much. What an idiot.” The voice came from her right. It was so androgynous, she couldn’t determine if the speaker was male or female, but she guessed male. “He’s so phekked he’s speaking nonsense.”
There were a few grunting sounds that she assumed was laughter before she felt a hard blow to the back of her head. It almost made her lose consciousness and her vision swam in front of her.
You’d think they’d let her fall and leave her on the road so she could recover and crawl back toward Riv and Lauren, but no.
She stumbled a little from the blow and her feet dragged, but they collectively pulled her along.
“Stop!” Her head hurt and her shout wasn’t even a loud one. “Stop!” She dug her feet into the ground, but that didn’t hinder them. All it did was cause her to almost lose her shoes a few times.
“Keep going if you know what’s good for you, idiot.”
Arms held on to hers, forcing her along as panic arose within her like a cold icicle up her spine.
“You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not with your group!”
She tried to shake them off as she spoke, to no avail. These motherfuckers were strong.
They’d walked far enough now that she couldn’t see Riv or Lauren but she wasn’t sure if that was because of the distance they’d moved or if it was because she was so caught between the aliens that she could hardly see over their shoulders.
Her breathing started coming hard and fast, and Nia did the only thing she knew she could.
She put all her weight on the arms holding her and kicked the ones in front, trying to break free. That made the group lose formation for a little, and a few of the aliens stumbled.
“Phek!”
“Hold him down!”
Nia caught a view of dark faces before she screamed. “Stop! I’m not with you! Let me go!”
Surely, the aliens around her would realize something was wrong. Surely, someone would help her.
But she knew even as soon as the thought left her mind that this wasn’t true.
The Exchange was ruthless and one thing aliens did here was mind their own business.
“Hit him again. He needs to shut up. If the boss hears him blabbering when we get there, he’ll know all of us were drinking.”
As her feet hit the ground once more, she almost stumbled, but they were walking in such a close-knit unit that she was kept upright. One of her trainers almost slipped off her foot, and there was a moment where she was hop-hobbling, trying not to lose the shoe as they dragged her along. She’d bought the pair from one of her neighbors back on Earth.
The woman had been scammed into a Ponzi scheme, and it was the only way Nia had known how to help—even though the shoes were a size too large.
It was just bad luck they we
re the shoes she’d been wearing when she’d been taken. Digging down, she had to scrunch her toes in order to keep the shoe from falling off. When it settled back on her foot, her heel landed on something hard like a pebble, and Nia bit back a hiss of discomfort.
So not only was she hobbling now, but she was fighting against what felt like the current of a moving river. Struggling against the group of aliens pushing her along was like trying to swim through the rapids.
“Listen! I’m not one of you. Look at me! Please, just let me through!”
The aliens kept going, not listening to her, and Nia realized she was caught in a most unexpected of situations. She needed to do something.
“Phek, he’s really out of it,” one said.
“Phekking talking nonsense,” another said. “I told you not to give the new ones any woogli drink. It’s too strong for them.”
Shit, that’s right. They couldn’t understand her. No one spoke English on this planet.
Fuuuuuuck.
The panic on her spine spiked and shattered all across her body, sending icicles through her veins.
With a final effort, Nia tried to scramble from the group. She flailed her arms as she tried to free herself from between the aliens. With strength she never knew she had, she resisted the arms holding hers down to grab on to two of their shoulders so she could surge forward toward the edge of the street. Hope flared as she saw the street side for just a moment.
They were going up an incline now and, for just a moment, she managed to see Lauren’s blonde hair when the crowd parted just a little. She and Riv were still arguing with the merchant selling the cradles.
She saw Lauren turn to say something to her, she assumed, and the exact moment when the woman realized she was no longer standing there was clear.
Panic flooded Lauren’s face and Nia called out, but with the noise of the exchange and the distance now between them, neither Riv nor Lauren heard her.
That’s when she felt another blow to the back of her head and this time, it didn’t make her vision swim. It made her vision go dark.
Fuck.
“No!”
She’d been so close.
She fought to retain consciousness, but a scream died on her lips as she felt her body fall against the aliens around her.
