by Juno Wells
"Hi," she said, feeling stunned. Then, more controlled, "Can you understand me?"
"I can, my Lady. I am fitted with a translator and your ambassador--" he gestured to Yvonne then "--had provided me with samples of literature and spoken language so I can become fluent in your tongue."
"Oh, wow. Okay." He really was fluent. His voice was deep and soothing, with an American accent. "I'm Hannah." She stuck out her hand, curious to see what kind of reaction she would get.
The man in front of her didn't move. "My name is Jukk. I understand it is human custom to shake hands, but I would not wish to touch the hand of a goddess who is not my mate."
Hannah's eyebrows shot up. "A goddess, huh?" she murmured under her breath. "You're taking me back to Vaher."
"That is correct, my Lady."
Hannah looked over her shoulder at Yvonne, who was watching the interaction with wide eyes and eagerly jotting down notes. There was no one else in the room.
How many other people knew about this at all? About Vaher, about extra-terrestrial contact having been made?
Yvonne smiled at Hannah, though she didn't think it was genuine. "Are you ready to leave? Is there anything else I can do?"
Hannah fought the urge to run away. It had all been dreamlike until now, until Jukk stood in front of her looking every bit like an alien and ready to cart her off to space.
"I'm ready to leave."
"Excellent. I understand that Jukk will teleport you to their spaceship. Of course we had to be careful with the ship, to make sure it wasn't detected by any satellites... or other countries... as something unusual."
Hannah had no idea how they'd managed that. She didn't care, either. She had bigger things to think about.
Jukk handed her something. It looked like a small pebble and she expected it to be hard, but in fact it was squishy to the touch. "This will allow me to transport you. Just hold it in your hand. Make sure you have physical contact with anything you want to transport with you." He gestured to the case looming behind her.
She turned to Yvonne for a final time. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity," she said, because maybe one day she would be back on Earth and she sure as hell expected to be getting a high-level job in the agency when that happened. "I hope I'll be seeing you soon."
Yvonne smiled. Jukk frowned.
Hannah grabbed the suitcase and nodded to Jukk. "I'm ready."
4 HANNAH
Hannah had expected the spaceship to be metal and impersonal, but instead she appeared in a cushy, opulent room. The walls were padded with a soft material in a dark red that she was immediately drawn to. She ran her fingers over it. It felt velvety. A bed sat in the middle of the room, and it had a couch. There were several doors leading from the room.
And a window.
She rushed over to it, pressing her fingers against the clear material. It was cold like metal, but completely transparent.
And, below her, was Earth.
"Holy shit," she said, pressing her face against it. She was breathing on it, but the material didn't fog. "That's Earth. That's America. I can't believe it." It was infinitely better than the photographs, infinitely more mind blowing.
Her reservations vanished for a moment. Whether she was being given to Vaherians as an agent or a commodity, what did it matter? She was going to space. She was making contact with aliens.
She was living everyone's dream.
"I apologize for being in your personal quarters, my Lady," Jukk said. "But I thought it best to show you where you'll be staying during our flight to Vaher."
She turned away from the window so she could look at Jukk. "Don't worry about it, I don't mind you being here. How long will we be travelling for?"
"Seven Earth days."
"Oh wow, I thought it'd be faster than that somehow."
"Vaher is a distant planet, on the outskirts of the universe, just as Earth is."
"So there's a whole universe of aliens and inhabited planets out there, huh?" she asked.
"More than you could count."
"I can't believe I was actually a skeptic about aliens existing." She went to the couch and sunk into it. It was made of the same material as the walls and seemed to swallow her up. "What an idiot."
"You had no evidence of aliens existing until today. It was a logical assumption, to listen to the evidence."
He was trying to make her feel better, and she smiled at him. He wasn't conventionally attractive, but he was intriguing. Different. "You don't have to stand up. I don't mind if you want to sit down."
"I wouldn't want to disrespect you, my Lady."
All the goddess and my lady stuff made her embarrassed. She guessed she'd be something weird and different on Vaher, but she'd though it would be curiosity she was met with rather than worship. "I really don't mind. I'm not special, you know. I'm just a normal person."
"Of course you are special." His tone gave no room for argument, and she didn't want to be that person who couldn't take a compliment. "But if my Lady insists, then I will sit."
He perched on the edge of the couch, far enough away that there was no chance of them touching. "So you're the only person on the ship?" she asked. She had no concept of how large it was.
"Certainly not. There is a whole team of Vaherians here to ensure your safe arrival at Vaher."
"You think we're in danger?"
"I think better safe than sorry." For the first time, Jukk gave a small smile.
Hannah struggled not to think of herself as cargo. "Can I meet the rest of the team?"
"Certainly. I'll gather them."
"Oh, it doesn't have to be a formal thing." She felt like the Queen of England coming to inspect her guards. "You could just show me around the ship and introduce me to people we see."
"Okay."
Her stomach rumbled. "And is there some food on this thing?"
"Certainly. The deputy chef to the King has been brought aboard to make you Vaherian delicacies." Jukk sounded pleased with himself.
Hannah didn't know whether it made her anxiety rise or fall. She didn't think she was going to be hurt on Vaher, but there was suddenly a lot more expectation on her than she'd anticipated, too.
But she kept that inside. If she was going to feel like the Queen of England, she was going to act like her too. Polite and stoic and awesome. Good things to aim for.
"I'd like to try some of your delicacies," she said.
SEVEN DAYS PASSED ALARMINGLY FAST, and Jukk, or the other men she'd met on the vessel as they traveled, loosened up much around her. They were all short on information, too, convinced that it wasn't their responsibility to explain to her the place she would be occupying on Vaher.
All they could say was that she would be cared for like a queen.
Considering their huge physiques, the dangerous looking horns, and the armory she'd stumbled across when she'd been wandering one day, that made her feel pretty safe.
She introduced them to card games and ended up regretting it when she was the one losing after just two days. The food was gorgeous-- spicy meats and grilled vegetables. She didn't recognize the meat or the vegetables, but they tasted good.
None of them would enter her living quarters after her and Jukk departed on that first day. None of them would even come close to touching her.
It wasn't that she wanted them to be handsy, but the speed with which they extracted themselves from her personal space when she went to look over one's shoulder to see what they were doing made her feel contagious.
It was surprisingly lonely. Maybe when she got to Vaher she could convince them she didn't want to be worshiped, she just wanted to make some friends.
When Jukk looked at her sometimes she felt sure it was guilt in his eyes. Maybe he could see how lonely she was, but custom dictated him not get any closer to her.
A knock sounded on her door, and she went over to look at the screen showing the corridor outside her bedroom. Jukk was stood, armed to the teeth, with his arms folded.
Their attire was something she still hadn't gotten used to yet. The pants were pretty standard. All black affairs with room for movement made from a matte material.
The issue was the lack of shirts. They were all bare-chested all the time. And their bodies were all sculpted to perfection. Thick muscles. Abs on top of abs.
She supposed it wasn't surprising that they wanted to show them off.
She opened the door and Jukk took an immediate step backward. "My Lady," he said.
"What's up?"
"We're approaching Vaher, I wanted to make you aware."
"Oh shit, really?"
"Yes, my Lady."
"I suppose I should find something fancier than my pajamas to put on then."
Jukk looked at her, dressed in flimsy shorts and a tank top, and averted his eyes. "That may be a good idea, my Lady."
She laughed. Being attracted to the goddess apparently wasn't acceptable, either. "All right. How long do you think we have?"
"Approximately forty Earth minutes."
Hannah checked her watch, which was still working perfectly well. It was nine thirty in the morning in Langley. "I'll be out in a few minutes, would you wait for me?"
Jukk nodded. Hannah was tempted to leave the door open and change just to see what he'd do, but didn't want to upset him. She changed into some black jeans and a blouse and topped the look off with some sneakers.
She definitely hadn't packed for being a deity. The small number of clothes she'd brought had been chosen for practicality rather than appearance.
She opened the door and said, "All right, let's go."
"Go where?"
"I don't know, to wherever the best view of Vaher is, I suppose."
Jukk nodded and guided her through the ship to the bridge. Several more Vaherians were there, guiding the ship into the planet.
She couldn't tell much from the planet as they approached. There was a lot less water than Earth and the land masses were divided very abruptly by color. One was a startling red, another a beautiful jade green. As they got closer, she realized how much smaller than Earth it was.
"What's the population on Vaher?" she asked.
"We have two hundred and forty-eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty-six inhabitants on Vaher currently."
"That AI thing is wicked cool." They all had AI implanted in their bodies. Their translation device was part of that. Jukk had said he wasn't sure whether Hannah would be able to get one implanted or not. Apparently that was a decision for the king.
"There aren't many ships in the sky," she said. She'd expected hundreds of them to fill the skies above Vaher.
"We don't do a lot of flying." He'd said they were an isolated planet that liked to keep to themselves, but they were at Earth, weren't they? She'd thought he was just exaggerating.
Her stomach twisted into more and more knots the closer they got to Vaher, but it wasn't a crowd of baying people that greeted her. It was a dark hangar filled with other ships and not another person in sight.
"Phew," she said, pushing hair out of her face. "I was expecting some kind of festival or something."
"Your specific arrival was to be kept a secret."
"Why?"
"For safety purposes."
Hannah chewed on her lip. Better safe than sorry, he'd said. She'd thought he was talking about space pirates or something, but their approach to Vaher was the first time the soldiers had properly armed themselves like this.
"So what now?" she asked.
"Now we welcome you to Vaher, my Lady."
5 HANNAH
Hannah was led through the hangar by her guards and into a dark corridor. They moved quickly, and this was the closest her guards had been willing to get to her since she'd appeared on the ship a week ago.
She was led to a dark room. Lights turned on by themselves and she squinted against the sudden force of the cold white light. "You should pick from the garments and prepare yourself," Jukk said.
"Prepare myself for what?"
"For your introduction to the people."
Of course it was too good to be true that she would be allowed a quiet welcome to the planet.
"All of the people?"
"The vast majority of them, yes."
She scratched the back of her neck. "Is there no way to do this a bit more... discreetly?"
"I'm afraid this is the custom."
"I didn't think you had many visitors."
"I'm afraid this is the king's instruction," Jukk corrected.
Hannah sighed. There was no arguing with that. Jukk had explained that Vaher wasn't separated into countries like Earth. The king was the top of the food chain for all of it, and he was an absolute monarch. His word was gospel.
"Okay. Thanks, Jukk."
"I'm afraid the garments might be too big for your frame. I hope you find something to your liking."
He shut the door and she was alone. She hadn't seen a single Vaherian woman yet, but from Jukk's comment she supposed they were as big as the men she'd seen. Hannah wasn't exactly tiny at five foot five, but was nothing compared to the men, who were all easily over six foot. She thought some of them might be as tall as seven feet.
She fought the urge to procrastinate getting ready and started thumbing through the hangers of clothes in front of her. They were all long flowing gowns made of gorgeous, rich materials in vibrant colors. But Jukk was right, they were too big for her. Most of them would swamp her.
She picked out a wraparound dress that was made of a flowing material in pure black. It was the plainest dress on the rack, which she liked, and the wraparound style meant she could probably tie it so it didn't look so obviously huge.
She looked around for cameras and found none before pulling off her clothes and trying to figure out the dress. The whole of one wall was a mirror, and she struggled to tie it in the right places to make it look flattering. In the end she tore at seams until it was one big piece of fabric with a neck and arm holes. She used one bit that she'd torn away to create a belt beneath her boobs that pulled the fabric in.
It looked a thousand times cheaper than anything on the rack would if given to someone they fit, but it would have to do. She pulled her hair from its messy bun and blonde waves tumbled to the top of her boobs. She wasn't wearing any make-up, and there was none in the room that she could see.
This would have to do.
Maybe the less godly she looked, the more likely the Vaherians would be to accept that she was nothing special.
When she opened the door, Jukk and her guards were engaged in heated conversation. Jukk was growling something at his colleagues in a language she didn't understand. It must have been their native tongue.
They stopped abruptly when she appeared, but Jukk couldn't school his face completely. He was pissed about something.
"Ready to go?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"As ready as I'll ever be," she supposed.
She and Jukk walked side-by-side. "What was that about just now?" she asked him. "You look pissed."
"It's nothing," he said, but his face darkened.
"Is it about me? About this?"
"No." A lie, she was sure from his averted gaze.
"Just tell me."
"There's no time, and it's not my place. I'm outnumbered."
That made her anxiety worsen. "I'm not going to be hurt, am I?"
"Not physically."
She balked. "What?"
"You're just going to be surprised. You're not going to be hurt."
"Just tell me already."
"It's not my place."
They reached the end of a corridor and there was nowhere left to go. Jukk handed her the same piece of squidgy material that had allowed them to teleport before. She wasn't sure why they hadn't just teleported straight away rather than walking around for a while.
She didn't have time to ask. Jukk had triggered whatever it was that made them teleport.
The sudden wind almost knocked her backward, and none o
f her guards reached out to help as she took several steps back. What she'd thought was the roar of the wind turned out to be the roar of a crowd.
It died the moment she gained her balance and stepped back to the edge. Getting her balance, she looked around. She was stood on a platform overlooking an arena packed to the brim with men. They were all Vaherian, shirtless and staring at her. Jukk had said two hundred thousand people lived on Vaher, but the arena definitely wasn't big enough to fit that many people in. She was probably being broadcast around the planet.
She had no idea what to do with herself. Should she wave? Smile?
Nothing moved even when she decided to try and smile. She was a deer in the headlights, looking around the crowd and trying to stay upright.
And then the men bowed their heads. She’d been trying to read the emotions in their eyes—had seen distrust, awe, apathy—but now that was taken away. She could see only the tops of heads as people lowered their gazes respectfully.
So it wasn’t just Jukk and her guards. No one dared to be the one to keep staring at her.
In the middle of the arena stood six men, and they stared at the ground too. One faced in completely the opposite direction.
A booming voice rang out, but she couldn't understand a word of what was being said. The crowd seemed to relax, people looked up, but still no one spoke. Hannah didn't dare to turn to Jukk and ask what was happening.
She turned her attention back to the men in the arena. They were Vaherian, and armed to the teeth. They were all bare-chested too, even though she was sure they were about to fight each other. They looked to be in teams of three, facing each other.
All of them apart from one looked at her now. They were intense stares. She was more drawn to the team on the left, the one with the man who wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be her best chance of a friend of all these people—if he wasn't even looking at her then he definitely wouldn't be planning on hero-worshipping her.
