Mate-Prize

by Renee Bond

  “I am happy to report a successful mission. You will soon be awarded your mate-prize. Congratulations, gentlemen!”

  My men made various sounds and expression of approval and excitement. As their leader, I only permitted myself a slight smile.

  Our woman was nearly ours. We had waited so long. Fought so hard. And it was all about to pay off.

  We were finally going to get to experience the pleasures of the flesh that we had long heard about. Long imagined. Long watched on the deliciously filthy holo-vids that kept us soldiers entertained during the frequent long flights through space.

  “I don’t know about you guys,” said Jensi, “but I plan to fuck our woman in every single way I can think of. When I’m done with her, she’s going to beg for my cock.”

  “I second that,” said Daxen. “I’ve been watching the dirtiest holos I could get my hands on for months now, dreaming of getting my hands on a real woman. That little slut has no fucking idea what I have in store for her!”

  Jensi gave a deep, knowing chuckle.

  “Who wants to put some credits on it?” Ellon asked. “Whoever can force the most orgasms out of her in the first week gets… say, fifty credits per orgasm?”

  “I’m in!” said Daxen.

  “Perfect,” said Jensi, his grin widening. “And let's put another two hundred on whoever can make her beg the hardest!”

  “We will all get exactly what we want from her,” I said. “But don’t forget, she belongs to all of us. I don’t want any of us fighting over her. Nothing is worth jeopardizing the bond shared between combat brothers. After all, we’re blooded soldiers of clan Triumphant. She’s nothing but a primitive Earth woman, to be used for our pleasure and to bear our sons.” Once again, my men made enthusiastic sounds of agreement.

  “Oh, I’ve got no issues with sharing her,” said Ellon. “And neither will she!”

  “And it won't matter if she does,” said Jensi. “She belongs to us. And she is going to give us exactly what we demand.”

  I grinned.

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  Chapter 6

  Rachel

  The orb and I floated through the strange rectangle of light.

  Inside was only a stark white room, devoid of any markings. There wasn’t even a door. The orb set me down. Thankfully, my ass discovered that the floor was rather soft.

  The room… shit, it really was more of a cell. It was about six feet by six, and eight high. There was no visible source of light, yet it was somehow well-lit.

  The orb floated to one wall. A panel snicked neatly open, and a kind of robotic arm issued forth. The arm had a small cup at the end of it. The orb settled neatly into this cup.

  “Please feel free to ask any questions you may have at this time,” it said soothingly. Man, that soothing voice was really starting to freak me out. It was like being told to calm down when you know damn well the building is on fire. “If you need to eliminate waste, let me know and I will have a receptacle brought for you.”

  The opening in the floor had already closed. I was trapped.

  “Let me out of here!” I said. Even as I said it, I knew that I wasn’t getting out of there.

  “That is not an option,” said the orb. “Try to relax. I am told that the initial anxiety can be the worst part of the mate-prize experience.”

  “What the fuck does that mean,” I asked. “Why do you keep calling me a mate-prize?” On shaky legs, I managed to stand up. It made me feel a little better. Almost like I could actually do something.

  Even though I knew damn well that I was completely and totally helpless.

  “A mate-prize is the term for a woman who is to be awarded to a squad of soldiers. The squad you are to be awarded to earned the right to breed through exemplary conduct in battle. You will be given to them in order to satisfy them and bear their sons.”

  As those horrifying words sunk in, one by one, it was suddenly like I was staring at the orb through a long, slowly constricting tunnel.

  This couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t be.

  I started around. All I could see was white.

  It was definitely happening.

  “You… you can’t!” I protested. Not my best, that. But I was under a lot of stress.

  “We certainly can,” said the orb. “The harvesting of mate-prizes is the only reason we allow Earth to exist. In being harvested and doing your duty as a mate, you are giving meaning to the existence of your homeworld. In addition, being bred with the fine men of clan Triumphant is the highest honor a woman can ever achieve.”

  I was in a nightmare. A waking nightmare, from which I was powerless to escape.

  “I don’t want to breed!” I said. The energy to resist, to even say anything, was slowly leeching out of my body.

  “Many mate-prizes say as much,” said the orb, “at least before they are awarded to their mates. Very few voice such protests afterward, though. In fact, I dare say that life as a mate-prize is considered quite a good life by those who have been harvested. In nearly all cases, mate-prizes express gratitude at having been harvested.”

  That was… not what I’d been expecting to hear.

  But it was bullshit. It had to be! What woman would want to be… bred?

  I tried to picture myself being used as some baby factory by some goddamn alien. Something with fur, or tentacles, or insect legs, or slime all over its body. Something filthy, disgusting, which only saw me as a baby oven to stick its disgusting cock into. If aliens even had cocks. I would pump out babies. Probably spend all my time raising them, too.

  It was everything I never, ever wanted to be. And then some!

  “Please sit down,” said the orb. “We have cleared Earth’s atmosphere, and will soon begin hard acceleration for the short hyperspace jump to our rendezvous point with the Bane, which is where you will be awarded to your mates.”

  I had to think. I had to think… of something. This couldn’t be the way my fucking life went! I was a rebel. A wild child. I was a fucking rock star! I was used to setting my own rules, going wherever I wanted.

  Being captured as some fucking mate-prize was as far away from freedom as I could imagine.

  The room shuddered then. It surprised me, causing me to gasp. It felt like I was standing on a bus as the bus sped up - only, more so. I was immediately planted on my ass.

  “Told you,” said the orb. I could swear I heard a distinct note of smugness underneath its usual soothing tone.

  I scooted to what I perceived to be the ‘back’ of the room - the direction in which the acceleration force was pushing me. I put my back up against the back wall, and discovered that it too was soft.

  Great. I was in a fucking padded room.

  I hugged my knees to my chest and glared at the orb, as if it were the key to my freedom.

  It brought me here. Could it get me out of here?

  “I most certainly will not help you escape,” said the orb, “if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Shit.

  “Do you think this is ok?” I asked it. “Can you possibly be ok with kidnapping women to be used as sex objects?”

  “I was created and programmed by the people who are harvesting you,” said the orb, “and who have been practicing mate-prize breeding for thousands of years. So yes, I most certainly do. Do not fear, Rachel. I have every confidence that you will grow to appreciate your new life.”

  “Fuck you,” I whispered.

  But… if I’m being honest… when it said that, a very strong part of me wanted to believe it.

  I didn’t want to be a mate-prize. But it was looking increasingly certain that I was going to be one, no matter what I wanted. Given that, there was a certain comfort to the notion that I would somehow end up enjoying the experience. I couldn’t see how that could be possible.

  But I couldn’t shake the hope that it would be true.

  The shuddering stopped after another ten minutes. Another ten minutes after
that, it started again.

  “We have begun decelerating,” the orb informed me. “We will land on the Bane in less than fifteen minutes.”

  I was scared. I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t do this.

  It didn’t matter.

  It was happening.

  The knowledge that my life as I knew it was over began sinking in.

  But I resisted. I’m stubborn like that. If there’s a way onto an intergalactic spaceship, there’s a way to get back off too. I resolved to be ready. To be watchful. To bide my time. And when I saw an opportunity - whatever that opportunity ended up looking like - I was going to take it. I was not going out like this.

  I was not going to be some fucking mate-prize.

  The orb literally sighed.

  “I’ve seen that look on quite a few mate-prizes,” it informed me. “Whatever you’re thinking, it won't work.”

  I’ll make it work, I thought.

  A few minutes later, the shuddering stopped.

  A few minutes after that, the floor of the cell opened back up.

  “It’s time to depart,” said the orb.

  I stood up. I knew that if I didn’t, the orb would just float me up anyways. I wanted to face whatever was coming on my feet.

  I stepped over to the hole in the floor.

  “Step forward,” said the orb.

  I looked down. There was about a ten-foot drop, at the bottom of which was a white platform. No doubt I would float down gently, courtesy of the orb.

  I stepped forward.

  I fell straight down, hit the platform - and the platform disappeared into thin air, revealing a bottomless abyss under my feet.

  Into which I plunged.

  Chapter 7

  Rachel

  I screamed. Long, loud, and high-pitched.

  “Do not fear,” said a soothing voice from just over my shoulder.

  I managed to twist my head around.

  The damn orb was following me!

  “We are not falling,” it said. “We are simply traveling. I apologize for the deception - we have found that it is easier to coax new mate-prizes into the travelways if they do not understand just how long they are. It’s why we placed the hologram of a floor within the tunnel.”

  That rotten, spherical bastard.

  “Where the Hell are we going?” I shouted. Despite the orb’s assurance, it sure as Hell felt like I was falling! The metallic sides of the wide tunnel I was in were flying by at an amazing speed.

  “We are traveling to the location of your awarding ceremony, which is to take place soon,” said the orb. “We will arrive shortly. We use these gravity-powered travelways to navigate around the Bane, especially when we must travel long distances. The Bane is roughly half the size of the moon orbiting Earth, after all.”

  Holy. Stinking. Fuck.

  The thought of a spacecraft that was half the size of the moon blew me away. I mean, I’d already technically traveled through space at that point, so maybe it shouldn’t have hit me so hard. But for long minutes, I could only stare down, towards where I was “falling.” Imagining the miles flying past.

  Whoever these alien fuckers were… they were fucking powerful. A ship the size of a small moon. And what had the orb said? That they allowed Earth to exist?

  I shuddered, finally realizing just how much trouble I was in.

  “You might be interested to know,” said that orb, “that we are traveling much faster than we would if we were simply falling. The gravity in this tunnel is powering us downward at a speed that is equivalent to nearly twelve hundred miles per hour.”

  “I really wish you hadn’t told me that,” I replied after a moment. Falling was terrifying enough. Falling ten times faster than normal was mind-bending.

  “My apologies,” said the orb.

  We fell for another fifteen minutes before I finally started to feel like I was slowing down.

  “We are about to arrive at an intake station,” said the orb. “It is where you will be prepared to be awarded. There are some medical tests and procedures to perform. Nothing to worry about. But I must warn you not to resist in any way, or I will be forced to apply discomfort once again.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said bitterly.

  After another five minutes, I came to a stop. Then I started falling in another direction, through a smaller tunnel. It wasn’t long, however, before I entered a third tunnel, at the bottom of which I could see a distinct white light.

  The room I floated down into was fairly large, and once again stark white. There were a number of chrome-plated machines in it, each of which had long arm-like appendages. I could also see a few other women in the room-

  Then I noticed what I was floating towards. What I was about to float into.

  A small glass box.

  I started thrashing. I couldn’t help it.

  It was no use. I entered the box. As I did, a clear lid slid into place above me, sealing me in.

  The box was three feet by three, and about seven feet tall. I couldn’t even have sat down in it comfortably. Forced to stand, feeling like the clear sides were closing in on me, I looked around.

  The other woman I’d seen were in other boxes. As I watched, one of the clear boxes containing a woman lifted itself off the floor by an inch. There was another orb floating outside that box, leading it as it made its way out a door. In other boxes, women were being… touched, by the machines, which seemed to be able to reach straight through the box somehow.

  I felt a prick on my exposed shoulder.

  “Ow!” I protested. I glanced over, to see that one of the machines had stuck me with a short needle.

  “The nanobots that were just injected into your blood will protect you against all known viruses and diseases,” said the orb.

  I was so bewildered by the whole experience, I couldn’t think of anything to say.

  Not that it would have mattered if I had.

  The medical treatments actually weren’t that bad. The weird machine that could reach straight through the glass box put a tiny bead in my ear, which proceeded to worm its way further in. It didn’t feel great. But the orb informed me that I would now be able to understand any known language I heard. I was also sprayed down with a light, fine mist, which ‘disinfected’ me. It dried almost instantly on my skin and clothes.

  “Lastly,” said the orb, “we will install your control unit.”

  Um… the what now?”

  “The what?” I asked. Trying, not particularly successfully, to not sound freaked out.

  “It will allow your mates to release sedatives into your bloodstream remotely,” said the orb, should such a thing ever become necessary. Chances are, it won't.”

  Wow. A fucking control thingie. Things were just getting better and better.

  “So I really am just some object to you, huh?” I said sarcastically.

  “Why yes,” said the orb, mildly surprised. “Has that not been made clear to you? To be sure, you will be considered a prized possession. Few Triumphant men ever get the chance to mate with a woman.”

  I felt like I wanted to cry.

  But I knew it wouldn’t do any good. And I didn’t want to give this orb, or anyone else, the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

  The control unit was placed at the base of my skull. At least, I think it was. I felt a little wiggling sensation there, and was informed that the procedure was a success.

  “Congratulations!” said the orb. “Your long wait is almost over! We will now proceed to your awarding ceremony, which is already in progress.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  “If you keep swearing like that,” said the orb, “I can assure you that your new mates will punish you. Mate-prizes are not usually allowed to use such language.”

  Crap. My brain was so fried that I hadn’t even realized that I’d been swearing out loud.

  The glass box started moving.

  Bringing me inexorably closer to being fucked by an alien.

&
nbsp; I sat down, wedged between the sides of the glass box, feeling like I would puke at any second.

  The box neared the side of the large white medical room.

  A door opened. Through it, I could see… men?

  Wait… like actual people-men?

  The box hovered through the door.

  Chapter 8

  Rachel

  The box brought me into a medium-sized room filled with what were clearly soldiers. There were two rows of them, all dressed alike in crisp white uniforms. The rows were leading away from the door through which my box hovered into the room. They stood neatly at attention, staring straight ahead, arms at their sides.

  My box didn’t stop. Very slowly, it hovered right in between those lines, which were facing each other so that both lines could watch me hover by. Ahead, past the soldiers, I could see more men standing on a raised platform. The entire room was, what else, stark white.

  But the men…they were people-men alright. As in, human. With arms and legs and a head and everything.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  A sense of relief deeper than words can describe stole over me. Here I’d been expecting the worst, giant spider-aliens, oversized frontal lobes, beedy evil eyes and long, curving claws and saliva dripping from gaping mouths. Instead, the ‘aliens’ aboard this extraterrestrial vessel were just… big humans.

  That’s when my sense of relief began receding, and I began noticing just exactly how big the men before me were.

  They were freaking huge! Every single one of them was at least seven feet tall. Some of them must have been eight and a half. Any one of them could have played a giant in a fantasy movie, and wouldn’t even have needed stilts.

  And… even through their uniforms, which covered most of their bodies… I could tell that they were all freaking ripped. Everywhere I looked, I saw chiseled jaws. Biceps that strained against sleeves. Pectoral muscles that stuck out above flat stomachs. I hated myself for it… but looking at those men, noticing their bodies - as any red-blooded woman would, even if she’d just been abducted and taken away from her home planet against her will - a tiny, tiny part of me flared to life. A part of me that I hadn’t known existed.