by Alyssa Ezra
Chapter 3
The room had been something out of a fairy tale. Cole had never sat, much less laid on something so soft. A polite knock on the, again, real wood door had woken her from the most restful sleep she had had in years. She looked at the clock display on the in-room communication’s unit, had relayed that it was still earlier than she needed to be at her shift at Brady’s Diner. Deciding to take care of the business that she needed to before leaving the planet of her birth, though this high in the sky – it looked nothing like the world she had always known.
Cole pulled on one of the dresses that had been provided to her by the aliens. Apparently, her personal effects had been loaded directly onto the ship. She dialed the ancient Com-Unit at the diner and waited. It buzzed and rang, buzzed and rang, until finally Martin answered. His eyes widened in surprise as Cole’s image swam in front of him on the screen.
“Coley?”
“Hi Martin.”
“Coley, where are you – that has to be the fanciest digs I ever seen!”
“Yes, it is very nice. Actually I’m calling, because of this in a way.”
“Coley! You ain’t selling muff upstairs are you!? Your Nan is gonna come back as a ghost and kick you in that ass of yours.”
“I know, I know – and it wouldn’t be a hard target to hit.”
“Coley…” Martin whined in protest. He always hated when she deprecated her figure.
“And no,” Cole continued, “I am not up on the prostitution levels, I am a lot higher up actually.” Martin’s eyes widened and his voice was nearly inaudible through the static of the Diner’s antique Com-U.
“How high Coley? What level are you on?”
“There are windows, and I can see stars in the predawn – apparently it’s a normal thing in the 500 range.” Cole shifted her gaze from the window nearby and focused on Martin’s image, “Are…are you crying?” Martin dashed a tear and.
“So I take this to mean that you quit?”
“Yes Martin. I am quitting. I have to call into my other jobs, but I wanted to have the time to talk to you.” Cole smiled and stared at the heavy-set man that had grown up with Cole’s mother; that had looked after Cole as if she were his own child
“Ahh, well I am so happy that you found a way to escape the smog and the lower levels. Good luck, beautiful girl. Good luck.” As he reached for the disconnect, Cole stopped him with one final request.
“Martin.”
“Yes?”
“Do me a favor and stay away from the Burn-ins. You grew up with my mother, you know what happens. Please stay away from them.” Martin made no promises to quit, but smiled kindly, understanding touching his weathered face.
“You won’t have to come find me, Cole. Now, you just worry about being happy…and not getting bored up in the lap of luxury.” No words of farewell were spoken, they had been unneeded. Sometimes an implied ‘good-bye’ meant more, and stayed with a person longer, than one filled with words instead of feeling.
Cole called into her other two jobs – the afternoon diner, and the Recycling center – those calls were nowhere near as personal as her call to Martin. They were an efficient exchange of resignation and recording the resignation in the businesses system. After finishing the calls, Cole sat at the window and watched as the day fully broke over the world she had called home for the last twenty-three years, for the first time.
*
I do not like space travel! The beautiful room had been left behind. The three alien males had escorted her to the interplanetary dock. It was the highest point in the super city – it turned out that one couldn’t go outside without a breathing suit when up in the upper half of the 600 levels. They were conveyed to a small ship and launched into free fall in which all flights began apparently.
I do not like this. I do not like this. I do not like this. The mantra kept repeating as the little shuttle suddenly seemed to come to life and jet forward before it completely disappeared in the fog. Apparently the process didn’t faze the aliens around her. Is it like this on every planet? Heaven! I hope not!
“Are you alright Lady Cole?”
“I’m fine – I would be better if you would just call me Cole though.” The three of them had been referring to her as ‘Lady Cole’ ever since they had come to collect her from her room.
“Ahh, but you need to become accustomed to the titles of our world, as once the mating rites have been performed, no one is going to call you anything by ‘High Princess’ other than members of the royal family of comparable or greater rank – of which there are few.”
“Fine, fine,” Cole quickly interjected, before the explanation could continue. She was experiencing a degree of motion sickness and needed a distraction, not a headache on top of the queasiness. “Why don’t you tell me your names? I still have no idea what to call you.” The men suddenly looked at each other, as if they had only realized, with her pointing it out, that they had never introduced themselves.
“Well, Lady Cole, I am Farth – I am one of Siiger’s leading scientists in the field of population replication. I was dispatched to Earth to determine whether the potential for compatibility even existed with Earth-born hominids.” Farth was the one that Cole had noticed had a slightly disturbing ashy grey cast to the tone of his skin. His nose started with refined lines at its bridge but ended in a snubbed, bulbous tip. The man’s mouth was wide, and his lips narrow. His electric blue eyes were set underneath a heavy, thick brow. Farth reminded Cole of the smog toad that one could occasionally find sitting on the outer sills of windows on the lower floor.
“And I am called Suelkon, my Lady.” Suelkon was the youngest of the group, with clean, albeit regular features. He was taller than Farth, but he was still rounded in shape. “I am fairly new to the Replication Academy; however, I am an old friend of the High Prince. My understanding of him was figured to be advantageous in selecting a mate – had there been a number of acceptable candidates. As you have doubtless realized, we weren’t getting as many candidates as we were expecting. Even though nearly a fifth of the female population of Earth should have been compatible…”
“If that fifth resides below the 100th floor, it is very challenging to get above it. I almost didn’t make it to the appointment.” At her comment, Farth drew a small device from the breast pocket of his long tunic and made some sort of recording.
“Fascinating,” commented the third man. “I am called by Rao. I am the representative of the High King, the High Prince’s father. I was instructed to attend this mission to guarantee that it met with completion.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” Farth, Suelkon, and Rao all laughed; as they did, Cole looked out the window of the small ship and stared at the orb suspended in the inky black of space. The world looked much different from the digi-boards that would be plastered everywhere on Earth Day. The smog blocked almost the entire surface of the planet from view. There were narrow straights through the oceans, where the smog wasn’t thick enough to completely obscure the dark waters. Also, here and there, the smog was dappled with the frozen peaks of the tallest mountains. Otherwise all one could see was the haze of nearly a thousand years of pollution and the silver of metal and glass spires that rose above it.
Without warning, the shuttle tilted and Cole had to close her eyes to avoid free-floating vomit, because she could only think of a few things that would be more disgusting. Once the ship felt as if it had stabilized, Cole opened her eyes and gawked at the structure that she could now see out of the porthole window instead of her home world. It was a ship. The largest ship that had probably ever been in this area of space lurked outside of the window and the hulking metal beast appeared to be the shuttle’s destination.
*
Cole had expected to be put through some sort of inter-ship docking – mechanical arms, air locked tube-like passageways, trying to efficiently propel oneself through zero gravity. No, that was apparently not the way things were done with the Sii; instead the big
ship that could easily compete with a moderately sized asteroid for space ate the shuttle.
If Cole were honest with herself, she would admit that the cargo bay had opened and the shuttle had merely flown into the cargo hold of the large ship. However, it felt as if she had been eaten; the sensation was vaguely anxiety inducing.
The shuttle settled on the floor of the otherwise empty cargo bay and the large five paneled circular ‘doors’ closed. Cole couldn’t hear even her own thoughts over the thunderous ‘whoosh’ of air as the cargo hold pressurized. Finally the roar settled into stark, shocking, silence. It appeared that Farth, Suelkon, and Rao hadn’t bothered to try to speak during the pressurization process as they picked up on their conversation, breaking the silence.
“Suelkon, do you know if the High Prince ever acclimated to the Earthling day schedule that we have been operating under?” Farth stood and started to make his way to the door of the shuttle; his gait still reminding Cole of a smog toad.
“No – but, honestly, I doubt it will matter much. The High Prince has never been coddled; it wouldn’t surprise me that he works on this ship more hours than any other member of the crew. If he isn’t up, he probably has instructions to awaken him on our arrival.” The air-locked hatch of the shuttle popped as the seal released before the door swung wide. The built-in steps lowered and the men disembarked ahead of her.
As her foot struck the metal, the only passage she had been able to identify that would lead into the rest of the ship opened. An older man walked into the cargo hold straight for their party. Suelkon called out to the man in greeting.
“Chikal Hanneth!”
“Chikal,” he calmly returned as he got closer. The man’s eyes narrowed on Cole, “Byvetta! Tulek ta pel haktan ko byvetta.” Unsure, Cole glanced at the men with whom she had become acquainted, but they said nothing. Taking charge, Rao stepped toward the new man.
“Lut faltz-ko suptney haktan pueryellta buolo – leelet byvetta nip suu proddi. Suu Rhalt Key Rayer rook appa ta u’roylee byvetta lep yor buno,hoy raktalta.” While the soft exchange was made, Cole reached out and tugged on Farth’s sleeve and treated him to a thoroughly confused expression when he turned her way.
“Oh! I forgot that we have not gotten you a trans-bud yet.” He whispered.
“Trans-bud?”
“It is a translation device that is implanted. Hanneth is not happy that we have only a single candidate for the High Prince to choose a mate from. Rao has politely informed him that due to the time limit, you are the only compatible candidate that we were able to find. The High Prince will have to deal with that – as there are no other options.”
“Why is there a time limit?” Granted, I made a rash decision when I agreed to this, but I didn’t have many other options. I would hate to be in Prince…the Prince’s position. I should ask what the man’s name is that I am supposedly getting pregnant for.
“It is a matter of succession rights. Ahh, it appears that Hanneth is not going to make things more difficult. We will go get your trans-bud done before you meet with the High Prince.”
“What is his name?”
“Him? He is Hanneth.”
“No, I had gathered that. The Prince. What is the Prince’s name?”
“Oh, yes I suppose that would be good information for you to have,” Farth let out a gasping chuckle. “The High Prince’s given name is Rayer. He is quite an interesting man. He has his prime late, though that is a sign of a particularly long lifespan. He does take after his mother, the last Warrior Princess, more than he does the High King. At least in physical appearance, when it comes to the mind, he is his father’s progeny.”
I wonder what a man who takes after a “Warrior Princess” looks like?
Like a God of some ancient race.
The trans-bud implantation had been easier than her ID. In fact, the implant placed behind her right ear, was completely imperceptible. Such sophistication spoke to the scale that Earth still had to advance in order to truly begin to compete with their more frequently seen alien counterparts.
As soon as the procedure had been completed, Cole had been shown through the ship, until they reached the room in which the High Prince was waiting to make his ‘choice.’ Cole sure hoped that Hanneth had slipped up to tell the Prince that unfortunately the decision had been made by the lack of supply.
Standing before the door, Cole nervously smoothed her hands over the front of the heavy, copper colored, silk dress she had been provided. Rao reached out and patted Cole’s shoulder reassuringly as the doors silently receded into the walls of the ship. Cole saw Hanneth, but did not breathe a sigh of relief yet – at least his presence gave a smidgeon of hope that Prince Rayer was not about to be blindsided with a complete lack of options. However, when Cole’s eyes finally came to rest on the Prince, everything else going on faded away – the man was nothing like the others of his race that Cole had seen as of yet. No, the man was beyond gorgeous, he was something else!
Even men on Earth generally didn’t have bodies like the Prince’s, and these days, few men were as tall. Prince Rayer was tall enough that Cole couldn’t think of a doorway, except the two-story doors that some fancy building lobbies had, that the man wouldn’t be able to reach up and touch with little to no effort. He was broad shouldered with a thick neck, trim waist and hips. The muscles of his arms bulged underneath the thin, plain cloth shirt he wore. The deep ‘v’ of the neckline revealed a hairless, sculpted chest and the rippling planes that stacked in rows above his navel. Cole could glimpse the path of body hair that shot straight down from beneath the navel, to disappear beneath the thin cloth that hung over the rest of his torso where it met with the heavier dark pants that hung over the man’s legs. The dark fabric clung to the Prince’s thighs and hung straight over his knees and calves to pool slightly over the arches of his bare feet.
His dark hair spilled riotously past his shoulders in a thick cascade of waves and half curled ends. Amid the waves was a face that would have been chiseled in stone by some great master, more than millennia ago, to preserve the flawlessly arranged features. His strong jaw squared off in line with slightly tilted ears. His chin was accented by a shallow cleft, and shadowed with the beginnings of a beard some men were prone to display at the end of the day. His lips were full and bowed – sinful lips, lips that promised pleasure. A long patrician nose cleaved the high planes of his cheeks.
Yet, of all the perfection that was his face, the most striking of features were his eyes. Set beneath the straight slashes of his brows, they were shaped like perfectly shelled almonds resting under heavy lids, as if the Prince had just awakened after a passionate night of carnal indulgence. But it was their color that was so absolutely hypnotic – they sparkled in well-lit room; glistening, as if they were lavender stars. Gold-olive skin that had been kissed by the sun, hair dark as jet highlighted by obsidian, and those lavender eyes – no, this was not man of Earth.
Chapter 4
Granted I did agree to mate with any compatible woman that agreed, but then these experts were supposedly bringing me options. Now I am down to one… Rayer was tuning out the rest of Hanneth’s droning about expectations and the unfortunate call of duty, when a comment caught his attention.
“It is unfortunate that you are limited to this single option. I was not overly impressed.”
Good grief, is she hideous? Does it even matter?
“Her coloring is odd,” Hanneth continued without even noticing Rayer’s interest. “Surely, a more normally featured female would be better for breeding. With this one, there is no telling what one is going to get.”
Whatever that means… Suddenly the doors of his private lounging chamber parted, receding into the wall. Good to know that the trans-bud implantation went well; it wouldn’t due to have complications so early in this debacle.
Rao, with his commanding stride, entered first, and Suelkon or Suel, a childhood friend behind him. Suel called out, a smile lighting up his kind, rounded face. Ra
yer had been grateful to have a friend, especially one as perceptive as Suel, representing his interests on the small planet from which he had been forced to take a mate. Despite the generally dire circumstances of Rayer’s need to mate, he was confident that Suel would do whatever he could to guarantee an acceptable female for the role.
“High Prince, we were not sure that you had adjusted to the earthings’ day schedule,” Suel greeted playfully.
“It was easier that way. It is good to see you again, old friend. I must admit, I was particularly relieved to learn that you had been entrusted with this task. I had thought that there were to be more than a single female brought – so that I might choose a mate.”
“I am sorry, but we were unable to find any more than one that fit your needs. We learned today that we might not have been accessible enough to the rest of the women that might be compatible to breed. Unfortunately, we are out of time – I am relieved that we managed to find one. And only yesterday did we find her.” Suel reached back and drew the female, the Earth woman, Rayer’s mate, forward.
Well, now I know not to trust Hanneth on the topic of attractive women. Rayer was positively struck by the woman, his woman’s exotic beauty. Not only was she different from the females of Siiger, but from the images that he had reviewed while waiting on the ship, imagining what his mate might look like, Rayer realized that she looked different from the women of her own world. The tops of the unruly curls that had been poorly tamed with a tie at the nape of her neck might reach his shoulder. Rayer knew that it wasn’t that she was particularly short, but rather that, even among his own, he tended to tower.
Her body was one generous curve after another. A long sloping neck, smooth arms that hid strength, and an inward tuck at her waist were all pleasantly feminine traits. Her body flared from either side of that tucked waist. She had broad hips that would healthily bear an heir. The fabric of the copper robe she wore clung to full thighs that Rayer could image cushioning the thrusts of his hips as he plunged his body deep into the pleasure of hers. Sii females, as least none in his experience, were not as endowed as the Earth woman before him in terms of the feminine mounds that bulged against the bronze fabric that shielded her chest. He could feel his fingertips tingling with the urge to test the weight of her breasts in his hands.
