by R. E. Butler
Ashleigh wanted to believe that Shreva was telling the truth, at least about them not being hurt. The men, although larger than the women, were restraining them carefully so they weren't injured.
The two inside the room spoke to each other, but Ashleigh couldn't hear what they said. They moved to a group of women, apparently using a metal instrument to guide them. They raised it and waved it over the group. The women began whimpering, clutching each other for support, and when the instrument beeped over the head of a thin, blonde-haired woman, she went nuts. She screamed and shoved the other women ahead of her, “No, no! Don’t take me! I want to go home. Please! Help me, please!”
Ashleigh cringed, unsure what to do. Kate wrenched free of the guard who was holding her back and jumped up, beating on the back of one of the men. “Who are you? Why are you holding us captive? We want answers, damn you!”
Another guard pulled Kate away with far more tenderness than Ashleigh would have expected. When the terrified blonde woman was clear of the room, her wrists in glowing handcuffs, the guards released Kate and the other women who had tried to escape and left, sealing them all inside.
Kate felt all over the wall where the door was, but there was nothing except the smooth surface. Sliding down to the floor, she put her head in her hands and sobbed.
Ashleigh thought about the guards. They certainly looked human. Handsome faces, the right number of arms and legs, as tall and muscular as one might expect from men who were clearly well-trained in how to handle abducted, hysterical women. They looked normal except for the hair. But anyone with a bottle of blue hair dye could do something similar, although she’d never seen a dye job quite like it. It wasn’t just blue, but shades of navy, turquoise, and powder blue nestled together in the strands.
Kate gathered herself after a few minutes and stood up, dashing the tears from her cheeks. She began to search along the wall again, looking for a way to open the door. Ashleigh wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the door opened again. Kate was waiting and tried to rush out but was stopped easily before she got even one foot out the door.
This second time, only one woman stood with Kate and tried to get out, as another woman was taken away in glowing blue cuffs. The third time, only Kate railed against their captivity.
One by one, their numbers slowly dwindled until it was just Ashleigh and Kate. Ashleigh moved over to Kate and sat next to her against the next wall.
“I wish I’d have listened to the instincts that told me that accepting a gift when I didn’t know who it was from was a bad idea. If only I’d listened to my inner voice!” Kate sighed. “You’re being awfully calm, Ashleigh. Are you in shock or something?”
Ashleigh shook her head. "No. I've always been able to keep a cool head in a bad situation. I guess panicking isn't really in my nature. I mean, don't get me wrong; I’m freaked out on a number of levels. But losing it?" She shrugged and ran her hands across the smooth fabric of the shift. "I just don't see how it can help."
"We should just go with them without fighting?" Kate accused. "They took us from our homes, and they're calling us 'brides'!"
Ashleigh felt a pang of regret for a moment, but knew that she'd been right. For all their fighting, the women hadn't been able to stop the others from being taken. "Shreva said that we would be safe."
"You trust her? She could be one of them. Or brainwashed. We have no guarantee of our safety. They could promise us the moon and never deliver. I want to go home, damn it!"
"I want to go home, too, Kate. But your fighting didn't do anything but keep everyone in a state of panic. You didn't stop the women from being taken. You didn't injure any of the men that came to take them away. For all you know, you made things worse for them. Worse for all of us."
Kate blanched slightly, her lightly tanned skin paling, and then her eyes blazed and she gnashed her teeth. "I won't go quietly, Ashleigh. You want to stand idly by while these aliens cut us apart for some science experiment or strap us down and use us for sex slaves, then go ahead. I won't give up fighting until the last breath has left my body."
Ashleigh, chilled to the core by Kate’s words, had opened her mouth to speak when the door opened again. Kate hugged her tightly and whispered, “Fight, Ashleigh. Fight for all you’re worth.”
The instrument waved over the tops of their heads, and one of the guards reached for Kate when it beeped over her. Kate kicked out with both her legs and rolled to the side, shimmying away from their grasps and racing for the door, trying once more to get between the guards. They stopped her easily and seemed unaffected by her pounding fists and screams for help. Like the captives before them, blue glowing handcuffs were placed on Kate’s wrists, and then the door closed and Ashleigh was left to wonder about not only Kate's fate, but her own.
And then she was alone. She paced, debating her course of action. It seemed that fighting back hadn’t really helped any of the women, and maybe it made things worse for them. She didn’t really know. What if fighting back was the worst thing she could do? She was frightened and missed her home. She rubbed the gem on her necklace in thought. She decided to continue to be calm and learn all she could. Maybe, just maybe, she could figure out a way to get back to Earth. She didn’t have the most exciting life, but no one had asked her if she was ready to give it up to go to some alien planet.
Bride. Shreva said they were chosen as brides by men from their planet. Although a part of her knew that the term bride could really be interpreted in a myriad of ways, they did seem to be going out of their way to be kind. If they thought of the women as chattel, to be traded, used and abused, they wouldn't have treated them so well, would they?
Shivering, Ashleigh cleared her mind and turned towards the wall where the door would appear when she heard the now-familiar whoosh.
The two guards who had come in each time to retrieve the women looked at her warily. She hadn’t exactly formulated a plan, but her instinct was to do whatever they said and to be as nice as possible. The two guards, both of them with blue hair, towered over her five-foot-three frame. They were wearing black jumpsuits and military-style boots. "It's time to go," one of them said, and she wondered why he was actually talking to her instead of just grabbing her as he had the others. Maybe because she wasn't screaming, fighting, or cowering in fright?
With a quick movement he attached the glowing cuffs to her wrists, and she lifted her hands to look at them. They looked like beams of light, but they felt heavy and cool. "This way, please." He gestured towards the open door, and she dropped her hands and began to walk. She caught the curious and surprised looks from the guards at the door but ignored them. They were probably wondering why she was being so quiet.
He stayed on her right and the other guard came on her left; the other two guards walked behind them. They moved down a long, narrow, nickel-colored hallway. "Why didn't you manhandle me?" She asked.
"What does it mean to ‘manhandle’?" the one who put the cuffs on her asked.
"You know, drag me out of the room, like you did the others?"
"They fought us; you did not."
"Well, it might have been helpful if you had told them what you were taking them for; where they were going," she pointed out.
"They didn't ask."
She glanced up at him. He was very serious. She hummed in thought. "So where are you taking me?"
"To your sacrosant's chambers. He will answer all of your questions and share the truth of your new life."
"Sacro-what?"
He glanced down at her, and a smile curved his mouth just slightly. "The one who wanted us to take you."
"Ah, so it wasn't just my random bad luck to be abducted?" She felt a little edge of hysteria and tried to tamp it down. Calm down, Ashleigh. She reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and was reminded that she was a prisoner when the cuffs flashed in front of her eyes.
"No, you were chosen for a reason, Ashleigh Turner. All will be revealed soon to you."
She let
that information process for a few minutes as they walked, turning this way and that down various metallic-colored hallways. "Why do you speak English?" she asked after some time had passed.
"We don't. When you were being examined by the medical team, you were given a translator implant that allows you to speak in our language and hear in your own."
"So I'm speaking in your language?"
"Yes." He nodded. "There are some words that won't translate, which is why I didn't understand ‘manhandle’, but for the most part, you are speaking flawless Norlanian, the language of our home world."
They entered something like a glass elevator, and it moved swiftly upwards until her stomach felt like it might be somewhere down by her feet.
“Our people don’t know much about space travel,” she said.
“The Norlanian people are very advanced. You’ll learn all you need to know from your sacrosant.”
Advanced people, but still abducting women like some barbarian race.
The doors slid open, and they walked down another few hallways before stopping. The only thing about the smooth wall of the hallway that looked out of place was a pad about shoulder height that was black with a green grid on it. The guard who had spoken to her pressed his palm to the door and said, "It's Captain Riya, Eden. I have your bride."
Bride? There was that word again.
She had a mind to just run like mad down the hallway, screaming in terror, but then the door slid open, and standing in the open doorway was one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen in her life. Her mouth dropped open and all thoughts of fleeing in terror were swept away.
The man in the doorway held out his wrist, adorned with a bracelet with the same blue stone hung in between intricately carved golden links. The guard who had identified himself as Captain Riya used a small instrument the size of a pen and touched the bracelet. The man looked at her shyly, running his free hand through his thick blue hair. Then Captain Riya touched the gem on her necklace with his pen. Two beeps sounded from the pen, and Captain Riya slid it into a pocket of his uniform. "All is in order here. Good luck, and congratulations."
Captain Riya unlocked the cuffs from around her wrists and pocketed them inside his uniform.
The beautiful man stepped back into the room and gestured inside. "Won't you come in, please, Ashleigh?"
Ashleigh looked up at Captain Riya, and he smiled and nodded, so she stepped in. The door whisked shut behind her, and she stared in confusion at the man in front of her.
His eyes roved over her quickly, happiness lighting his features and making him even more impossibly beautiful than before. His eyes found hers again, and he smiled. "I'm Eden Atarn. I'm so happy to finally meet you, Ashleigh."
Her mouth went dry and fear licked at her. "What, uh, what are you going to do to me?"
He frowned, his lush mouth drawing down. "Do?" Understanding dawned on his features, and he actually looked sick. "Nothing! I just, I want to get to know you. I won't hurt you, I promise. You're perfectly safe here in my room on the ship."
"No offense, but I don't want to get to know you; I want to go home." She ground her teeth together, yelling at herself to stop talking. So much for being agreeable and finding a way to escape.
He shook his head, his pretty blue hair moving with the motion. "We're already out of your solar system. There is absolutely no way for you to return to Earth."
She stared at Eden. He seemed entirely sincere. Not only about her being safe with him, but about her now being far away from Earth. She wasn’t sure why she believed him, but she did.
"I need to sit down," she said weakly, feeling like she might pass out. He started with alarm and pulled her swiftly to a long couch. She sank down into the cushions and put her head in her hands. He disappeared, and after he returned a few moments later, he had a steaming cup in his hand.
"This is hot tea made from the beri plant. It's soothing."
He sat across from her on a small ottoman, the same shade of beige as the couch she was sitting on. She took a tentative sip of the brew and found it tasted like sweetened chamomile. His hair, like several of the guards including Captain Riya, was multiple shades of blue, cut short and spiked carelessly. His eyes were soft brown and luminous, reminding her of a wounded puppy. A straight nose and high cheek bones gave him a regal look, and the perfect line of his jaw and the lushness of his full, plump lips made her body tighten with lust, even as her brain reminded her she wanted to go home.
He fidgeted, seeming unwilling to bear her watchful gaze, which she found odd. He was beautiful. Surely he was used to people looking at him.
“So tell me why the hell I'm here," she said finally, putting the cup down on a small end table with a top that looked like mother-of-pearl.
He darted his dark brown eyes up to hers and ran his hands through his hair, then dropped his eyes down and began to speak.
On their home world of Norlan, their mated couples had stopped giving birth to baby girls several decades earlier. Those that were born were found to be sterile when they were old enough to marry and start a family. Sometimes, very infrequently, a female would be able to bear children, but never female children, only males. Their scientific community worked hard to find the reason for this sudden mutation that threatened to be the eventual end of their kind, but found no underlying cause for it or way to reverse it. In the meantime, only boys were born, and those boys needed wives. Females capable of producing children were becoming in short supply and fights broke out constantly over those few. Their government sent out ships to find planets that contained biologically compatible females. They found several planets in different solar systems, and they began to bring those women home as brides.
A lot of things went through Ashleigh’s mind as he spoke about the loss on their planet. She did feel sorry for them, but she had her own life back on Earth and she wanted to get back to it. Although she would admit that she was attracted to him, and curious about life on other planets, she was human and she wanted to be back on Earth, period.
“I'm not a whore," she said finally.
"What is a whore?" His brow furrowed in confusion.
"A whore, a woman who gives her body to anyone."
She wasn't sure, but for just a moment, it looked as if he was ashamed. But the emotion passed over his face so fast she wasn't sure she'd actually seen it. "Of course you're not, I know that." His voice was soft and soothing, and she had a sudden urge to crawl into his arms and let him hold her.
Steeling herself against those dangerous thoughts, she growled, "I'm not going to have sex with you, so you might as well have them send me back."
"There's no way that you can return to Earth. I'm sorry that you're upset. I would never take you against your will, Ashleigh; I want you to come to me willingly."
She snorted and folded her arms. "That will never happen."
While she might have expected anger at her flippant remarks, the sadness that eased over his features made guilt prick at her.
He stood up slowly and smoothed his hands down the front of his green embroidered tunic. He was wearing matching pants and dark shoes. "Let me show you the rest of the chamber, and then I'll make us something to eat."
She stared at his offered hand. "Just so long as we're clear."
"We are," he said evenly. She took his hand and he pulled her up from the couch. For a brief moment, their bodies touched, and she was very aware of the lean, muscular body underneath the clothing, the heat that radiated from him. He smelled incredible, like dark spices.
Coming back to herself suddenly, she let go of his hand and followed him through the front room. "This is the cooking area." It was just off the front room and contained a refrigerator, a pantry, a cook-top that looked far too difficult for her to operate, and a metallic sink. A door opened to the right of the kitchen, and he said, "All the doors, except for the one leading into the hallway, will open for you at any time; they're programmed to recognize you. If you want the lights on or of
f, you simply say the command."
She nodded and followed him through the open door. Inside was a bedroom. A huge bed sat in the corner, covered with dark green blankets and a pile of pillows in various shades of green. Pretty sashes hung from hooks in the ceiling and created a gauzy, dreamy effect around the bed. He opened the doors of a dark cabinet. "Here are clothes for you. Our women dress in tunics and slacks or dresses. There are shoes, too."
She was a little stunned at the array of colorful clothing inside. She touched the hem of one dress. "These are for me?"
"Of course. I didn't know what colors you liked, so I got you a little of everything. When we get home, you can have things made in any color you like."
"Earth is my home," she reminded him.
He said nothing and shut the door. At the far end of the room, a door opened for them, revealing a bathroom that looked like it was nestled in the middle of a garden. The walls were painted with beautiful trees and flowers, with birds and butterflies that almost appeared to move amongst the leaves. The floor was the color of summer grass, and felt soft under-foot, like foam. In the center of the room was a large pool that he said was for bathing. With the simple command "fill", the pool started to fill up, the steaming water churning as it rose quickly.
"The temperature is regulated here," he said, pressing a small blue panel in the wall near the tub and adjusting a lever up and down. "Test it, and tell me if it's hot enough."
She reached down and let the water bubble over her fingers. It felt perfect.
"It's good." A bath sounded heavenly right then. She needed some time to absorb what she'd learned.
He moved to a tall cabinet and pulled out a fluffy towel. "This is a raki drying towel; it's made to dry you instantly." He set out a tray of jars, which he explained were shampoos and soaps, and he pointed out the toilet, which looked like a regular Earth toilet with an auto-flushing mechanism.
"When you're done, you can change into something from the cabinet."
She liked the idea of getting out of the shift. It just reminded her that aliens had been looking at her while she was naked and unconscious. He must have caught the embarrassment that crossed her face and pinked her cheeks because he said, "Nothing bad happens during the exam; you were stripped of your clothing and put on an exam table by medical personnel. Your body was scanned, and then you were taken into a bathing chamber and dressed. It was all done by female medical personnel.”
