Stolen and Seduced

by Christine Pope

  “How accurate do you believe you are?” Fierme raised an eyebrow. “We didn’t pick up any scaled, winged creatures, especially not the fire breathing type, nor did we find any sentient plants or metallic warriors.”

  “We will soon see.” I shrugged. “Do you have everything prepared?”

  “Unfortunately,” he sighed, his eyes filled with worry. “Are you sure it is going to work?”

  “From what I’ve seen in their media, the more bare we are, the better chances we have to attract a mate.”

  “I hope you are right.”

  Mikayla

  Someone shook my arm as screams filled my ears, jerking me awake to an unfamiliar scene. A large dome-shaped metallic room had replaced the crowded stadium. Instead of lying on lush astro turf, a slight heat radiated from the glowing white hard surface stretched beneath me. Blinking hard, I shook my head to clear the dizziness, unable to believe this is what I woke up to, yet the chaos remained the same. Flicking my gaze to the pale blue eyes of my neon green-haired friend gripping my arm, I sighed in relief.

  “Where are we, Jess?”

  “Either we are being PUNK’D and this is some sick joke, or aliens abducted us.” Her eyes narrowed as she shot a glare over my shoulder. “Whatever this is, it doesn’t matter. If those rainbow-colored freaks decide to touch me, I’ll show them how deadly I can be with my cowbell.”

  I knew Jess was eccentric at times, but she was the best pit player we had. Being the section leader only added to the amount of weirdness that always radiated from that section. They were instrument performers yet didn’t march, which put them outside of the main group.

  Drumline was the same. We were always a step ahead of the wind players and treated differently from them. We had year-round practices to make sure we were always in top shape. Our cadences drove the rest of the band, and it was our drum battles that determined who had a better line.

  IOU hadn’t lost a drum battle yet this season.

  “What do you—” I turned to follow her gaze to see what the fuss was about, especially with all the screaming going on around us. She wasn’t exaggerating.

  Along the wall were Kool-Aid colored males, their skin so bright and fruity looking, it appeared as if they were reenacting Fruit Stripe gum or Skittles.

  Oh, how I would love to taste their rainbow.

  Who wouldn’t?

  I couldn’t miss how the silver thongs highlighted their packages hidden underneath or how their thin tails moved around as if they had a mind of their own. If I ignored their tails, I would have thought they were giving us an LGBTQ+ Pride strip show. Only we were supposed to be the ones entertaining, not being the ones entertained.

  Either this was the greatest prank of all time and we just woke up inside a movie studio, or one of my favorite jokes finally came true.

  Aliens abducted us.

  I couldn’t wait to rub it into the staff that my ‘what if’ came true.

  Standing, I searched the band, looking for the director, the drill writer, or any of the supporting staff, only to fail. I couldn’t pick out any of the three drum majors, either. They were always with the band whenever there wasn’t anyone else to lead.

  “Where’s our leadership?”

  Jess stood and faced me.

  “What do you mean?” She scanned the crowd, shaking her head in disbelief. “It seems only the performers are here.” She peered over her shoulder and gave me a nervous smile. “You know what that means, right?”

  I stilled. Of course, I knew what it meant.

  The marching band’s leadership fell to my guidance when there weren’t any staff or drum majors present.

  “Fuck.”

  “No, by the look in their faces, that’s what these rainbow dudes want to do to us.”

  I followed her gaze, only to confirm what she said was indeed true.

  Every male watched us with hungry stares as if they were the hunter and we were the prey, just waiting to be picked. Now I knew how sheep felt being herded by a pack of wolves, knowing we would soon be supper.

  “This all has to be a misunderstanding,” I muttered as I watched the other band members cluster together by section, holding their instruments close, inspecting them. “I wasn’t meant to lead, not like this anyhow.”

  Jess bent over and grabbed the large black cowbell off the floor, scanning the area for something as she stood up.

  “You better get used to it,” she replied, pointing to my discarded snare, lying on its side, with its mallet bag on full display. “You are our group’s leader, and right now, you need to get the others in line.”

  She was right.

  Out of all the section’s leaders, I was the highest-ranking and represented the collective voice of the band.

  Auxiliary didn’t have much to say but still did as they were told, even if they weren’t technically music players. We respected their beauty and the texture they added to our drill and performance, nevertheless. They practiced year around as well, doing special events during the offseason, just like the drumline.

  Jess picked up my snare, passing it to me. Watching her, confused, I grabbed it and hooked it on my shoulders. Instantly, a sense of belonging passed through me, as if I was once again in my element, even though I knew my feet weren’t on a field but a glowing floor.

  The aliens watched intently as my band continued to make noises of despair. Their screams had turned into sobbing. The calmer members tried to comfort the others.

  If it wasn’t for getting lost in my own fantasies about the unknown, I would probably be like them. In truth, I had always believed in aliens. Or at least, that life existed beyond our own stars. But I would never have dreamed of meeting them, especially in my current state. Our current situation didn’t allow me to cower in fear. It wasn’t as if I could run, anyway. We were stuck within these walls, with no place to hide.

  It was time to face my destiny, like the soldiers in our past, beating their war drums before a battle. Grabbing a spare unmatched mallet from my side bag, I offered it to Jess.

  “If I’m going to be the leader, you’ll be my assistant. I didn’t sign up for this.”

  Smiling, she reached for it. “I wouldn’t leave you to deal with these hunky males alone. Someone will have to help you ring in everyone.” Grabbing my stick, she inspected its taping and shot me a small smile, then her blue eyes dimmed of their brightness. “I wish I knew you had this quality wrapping. Who did it?”

  “I did, why?”

  “Because I would’ve paid you to do tape mine,” she said, shocked. “Not like it matters anymore…” Lifting her cowbell, she tried a few small test taps. “Sure, I’ll assist you, but remember me when it comes to passing out extra benefits. You know, as payment for volunteering.”

  “Sure…” I flicked my gaze at my section. They watched my exchange with Jess in confusion, bewildered by our surroundings. “If that is what it takes.”

  “Deal.” Tightening her grip on her cowbell, she raised it into playing position, fisting her new emerald and sapphire crisscross taped mallet. “I would cover your ears if I were you.”

  BANG!

  BANG!

  BANG!

  BBBAAAANNNNGGGGGG!

  My ears rang as the room fell silent and stared at Jess.

  “Band!” I snapped, my voice short and loud, bringing everyone’s attention to me. “On me!”

  Risolu

  What was that horrible noise? Flinching, I covered my ears as the sounds of our ship being attacked boomed, only the floor didn’t quake.

  “What are they doing, Officer Risolu?” Commander Fierme fumed, pointing at the gathering. “Can’t you stop that racket?”

  “Is it some sort of defense mechanism?” Assistant Commander Kadeza demanded, stepping close as his purple tail swiped wildly, ready to defend if needed. “You didn’t tell us this would happen. I thought they would be all over us once they saw our lack of uniform!”

  The banging stopped.

  Th
e three of us lowered our hands and stared at the humans with their mating dance equipment raised. My ears still rang from the invisible assault.

  Maybe this was a bad idea, after all.

  “What do you expect from them?” I scoffed, trying not to bring our scared precious cargo aboard, only to fail. “You are the ones who wanted to make a sport of this, ignoring my warnings. I don’t have all their languages, dialects, and slang translated and uploaded into our universal communicator. It’s your fault. You wanted to rush the process because you were afraid of missing their mating cycle with their next one currently unknown.”

  “You are the Head Communications Officer,” Kadeza barked. “It’s your job to establish us with them, so go do it, or I’ll have your assistant do it.”

  I flicked my gaze to Vevaz, who stood at attention. His gold eyes met mine. The male was a few cycles my junior, and while we got along, he always made a point to try to prove himself. Only, I didn’t know if it was to keep his spot or take mine.

  “That won’t be necessary,” I replied, stepping forward. “But you can come with me, Vevaz, since you’ve been researching them with me.”

  Closing his eyes, he nodded. “It would be an honor.”

  “Good, now let’s go before they start making more of those horrible noises.”

  Sighing, I walked past our leaders to our future, hoping they wouldn’t attack me.

  It wasn’t my fault they were here.

  I had wanted more time to study them, learning everything before abducting our chosen batch. They didn’t want to have sign-ups or make a lottery after careful consideration, as I had suggested. No, my leaders wanted to act first and deal with the consequences later. Our other breeding ships didn’t have any problems with their chosen species, even if only a few were capable of produce offspring. The others would live the rest of their lives as paired mates.

  Being claimed by another was an honor, regardless of their species. By volunteering to be part of this social experiment, our sacrifices would be handsomely rewarded once we returned to our home star system.

  These humans may be lacking tails and the intelligence to travel past their home planet, but something about their smaller builds and earth-tone colors were pleasing to the eye. Regardless, their basic shape seemed similar to ours, giving me hope it would provide us a higher chance of reproducing. The differences didn’t matter since our species had often seen the beauty in others.

  We were the most open to acceptance and adapting to change, compared to the other species we had come across, those who weren’t were suffering, struggling to keep up with the rest of the galaxy.

  There was nothing to fear about the process, as long as both parties respected each other along their journey to discover whether they were willing to take their relationship to the next level.

  The problem was, there were more of us than them. And I had a nagging feeling from watching their media, everyone abducted wouldn’t be attracted to us. Our sister ship, the Crescent, was nearby and ready to receive any males willing to participate in their Choosing.

  I just had to survive long enough to make it to ours.

  Once the humans from this abducted batch paired off with their chosen crew member, we would memory wipe those who refused and drop them off at their original location. Our doctors would research their biology in hopes of learning exactly how compatible they are with us, even if it’s just bonded pairs. If they can produce young with us, either their females or ours, we will move forward in how we gather more subjects.

  For everyone’s benefit, I was hoping my leaders would allow me to study the humans—both aboard our ship and on their planet—to complete our universal translator. It would be up to me to find the perfect course of action and how we should move forward regarding our future.

  Halting midway, I watched and waited for the humans’ reactions. Many cowered in fear, gathering tightly against each other as if their sheer numbers were not an advantage against the two of us. Many eyes were wide in fear while others leaked water, which I‘d learned was a sign of distress. Most of the males and the braver females pushed the others behind them. Some gripped their noisemakers harder, only to prove they were desperate enough to use something sacred against us if needed.

  Vevaz flicked his tail against mine, grabbing my attention.

  “How do you want to do this?”

  “We use their most common greeting,” I sighed, raising my hand with my open palm toward them. “And pray to the Stars it works.”

  “I hope you are right about this.” Worry filled his golden gaze as he copied me.

  Rumbling exploded from the crowd as they watched us warily, talking among themselves.

  Gock!

  Gock!

  Gock!

  Hissing, I flinched as I covered my ears to protect myself from the horrible noise once more.

  I cursed for not realizing how loud their weapons would be in person.

  If I knew better, I would’ve tried to have our engineers calibrate our transporter to only take the organic subjects within our targeted location. They would’ve arrived in the nude, but we weren’t what I would consider covered ourselves. Unlike my brothers, I missed wearing my vest and loincloth and didn’t enjoy walking around in the garment we wore for examinations.

  The crowd parted, revealing the female human who attacked us earlier, with her black metallic rectangular weapon and its striker held tightly in her hands. The one who had summoned the performers to gather around her stood beside her, equipped with her weapon. They walked side by side, their heads tilted high, through their fellow humans. Concern laced the faces of each member as their leaders passed them, as if they feared for their wellbeing.

  I should be the one worried. They were equipped with their sacred mating instruments. Would they try to seduce us with a performance, playing lightly under the pretense they wouldn’t attack? What if they figured out we had sensitive hearing? I already miscalculated how loud they could be. They could use one of our most significant weaknesses to deafen us permanently.

  The two females walked in unison, moving as one across the floor, only to halt a short distance away with their strikers ready. The green-haired female with the black rectangular instrument shot a glance at the one who held a golden cylinder in front of her. She must be their leader.

  Was it brave to stand before us away from her people? Or foolishness?

  There was a reason why I was here in front of them with only Vevaz by my side. If they struck me down, our crew would still have its leaders. Steeling my resolve, I felt the weight of the room’s stares on me as I stepped forward and offered my hand. Their leader’s sapphire eyes met mine.

  “Yoo! Wha Tut appy in?”

  Mikayla

  “Did he just…”

  Jess leaned closer, covering her mouth with her cowbell. “I think he’s trying to introduce himself.”

  “Why would they abduct us just to talk to us?” My eyes flicked to his tail, mesmerized by how it moved. “What do you think they want?”

  “If I had to guess, they want to probe us.”

  Involuntarily, my gaze flicked past the green alien’s muscular chest to a slight movement under his silver thong.

  “The last time I checked, dicks usually didn’t move like a snake trapped in a hammock,” I gasped, unable to pull my attention from his gift-wrapped package. “And most people wouldn’t think marching band uniforms were sexy.”

  “Maybe what we’re wearing is considered exotic or something,” she mumbled, placing a hand against my back. “Now, accept his hand before they get offended.”

  She shoved me forward, and I tripped over my own feet, stunned by the sudden movement. I gasped as my snare rammed into his junk and jerked against my body, feeling as if I was punched in the stomach. I dropped my mallets and grabbed his pectorals, digging my nails into his silky-smooth skin, hanging on for support.

  Groaning, he fell backward as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me with him.
A loud thud echoed in the room from his impact. A moan escaped his lips as the weight of my body ground my snare into him.

  Before I had a chance to react, something wrapped around my neck, forcefully yanking my head back. Releasing my grip from his chest, I clawed at the appendage, trying to break free—only to fail.

  Tears fell from my eyes as my throat burned. The loud rumble from the yells and screams that filled the air slowly muted as I struggled to breathe.

  Jerking on his lap, I used the last of my energy to try to escape as I thrashed about.

  Locking my eyes on his teal ones, he peered at me, confused, pain lacing his face as my vision slowly blurred.

  Risolu

  “I have her!” Vevaz yelled as he tightened his tail’s grip around her neck.

  The pain continued to flood my system as their leader collapsed on my chest. I didn’t miss the confusion in her eyes as they desperately begged for help.

  All around us, both sides fought each other, not caring who or what got hurt. The humans used their sacred noisemakers as weapons as they tried to get to their unconscious leader. It was my fault my kind was defenseless without their weapons, only sporting their silver examination garment. Most followed Vevaz’s example, using their tails to combat the humans, defending themselves against their advances.

  Those who wielded the long golden metallic instruments kept expanding them to poke their opponents in the head and groin. The ones within the large golden noisemakers used them to protect themselves as they rammed into my fellow brothers. Together, they formed a protective ward around their fellow humans, preventing anyone from getting past them. I couldn’t believe how each individual used their sacred noisemaker to its fullest as if they had practiced fighting with each different type.

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Everything had gone horribly wrong.

  It was my mission to give them our offer, have them split up, and hope to have the honor to be selected at the Choosing. Now, there wasn’t a chance any of that would happen.