by Tammy Walsh
The advert ended and the next one began.
I turned to Zyod who had the same look in his eyes I did.
“Did you see that?” he said.
“Yeah,” I said. “I saw it all right.”
This was it, I thought. This was the answer to my problem.
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought it,” Zyod said. “That lady’s knockers were huge!”
Star Cross’d Lovers was on the outskirts of town, a short ride away on a shuttlecraft. I climbed into the pilot’s seat but Zyod nudged me aside.
“I’ll drive,” he said. “I remember what happened the last time you got behind the wheel. I still have the scars.”
I pursed my lips but did as he asked and climbed into the front passenger seat.
Zyod took us out the rear exit and joined the queue of traffic. Inner city areas were carefully divided into multiple fly lanes. Shuttlecraft were allowed only to follow the strict channels designated by traffic control. Speed was uniform across the board. Overtaking wasn’t allowed except by emergency vehicles.
If you had a genuine emergency, all passengers were scanned. If it was discovered one or more people had an emergency health issue, they were allowed to step out of the usual lines of traffic and speed along to the hospital.
But you could get your ship chipped if you were willing to break the law. You would be fine… until they caught you. I happened to have this shuttlecraft chipped. I believed in being prepared for every occasion, even if it could end up landing me in trouble later.
“Let’s use it!” Zyod said.
“No,” I said.
His finger hovered over the button but he never pressed it.
At least he had some sense.
He took the next junction, which provided an awesome view of the emperor’s palace perched on a hill in the distance.
My family was one of the wealthiest in the empire, but it had nowhere near the power the emperor wielded. I wondered if he suffered from the same everyday issues and problems we mortals did.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Few were allowed in the emperor’s confidence.
He was the beating heart of all Titans everywhere. Long May He Reign.
Zyod brought us to Star Cross’d Lovers. It was a small company located on the twenty-first and twenty-second floors of an aging building. A large poster hung on its walls and declared many offices were available to let.
Already, I didn’t hold out much hope this place was going to be the answer to my problems.
We entered the parking lot and climbed out. A giant metal arm took my shuttlecraft and tucked it away somewhere. Parking had never been so easy. The hyper elevator took us to the correct floor.
The doors opened and we were welcomed by a chirpy assistant with a beaming smile and a dress too low-cut for it to be decent. She carried a clipboard but never looked at it.
“Welcome to Star Cross’d Lovers,” the chirpy assistant said. “May I take your name, please?”
“Dyrel,” I said. “G’kauah.”
“Wonderful,” she said, not checking her clipboard. “Please follow me to the waiting area. Would you care for something to drink?”
“No, thanks,” I said.
“A whiskey on the rocks,” Zyod said. “Some of us didn’t drink last night.”
He aimed a sour scowl at me but I was too disinterested to notice.
I took a seat in one of the fashionable but highly uncomfortable chairs.
“How do you even sit in this thing?” I said.
“I’m not sure you are,” Zyod said, lounging and not taking much notice.
A hologram blinked into existence in front of us. We had one each. She was a female Titan with large breasts, long legs, and very little clothing.
“Looks like we found your dream gal already!” Zyod said. “These guys are good!”
“Hi there,” the hologram said in her sultry voice. “My name’s Marisa. I’m the composition of what every male Titan looks for in a female’s appearance, but I may not be what you’re looking for. That’s why at Star Cross’d Lovers we offer a huge range of girls from all four corners of the galaxy for you to choose from—”
“Can you dance?” Zyod interrupted.
“Sure,” our two holograms said in tandem. “I can dance. I can perform all manner of—”
“Can you lap dance?” Zyod said.
I rolled my eyes. Typical.
I said, “I’m not sure they’re here to—”
“Yes, I can lap dance. Would you like to see me lap dance for you?”
Zyod turned to me with an arched eyebrow.
“You were saying?” he said. “Holograms, please show me your sexiest lap dances. Together, please.”
The holograms danced, running their hands over their voluptuous bodies and helping each other strip down to their underwear.
“Mr. G’kauah?” a deep female voice said. “A pleasure to meet you.”
It was Shrisa from the advert. She looked just as stunning in real life. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said she was the real inspiration for the “ideal composites” performing for Zyod.
“Uh, I would get up,” Zyod said, “but I’m a little… indisposed right now.”
The twin holograms ground on him.
I shook Shrisa’s hand.
“You can ignore him,” I said. “He came with me but he’s not here for the same reason I am.”
“Fortunately,” she said drily. “Please, follow me.”
She led me through a pair of automatic glass doors that hissed shut behind me. The hallway we stepped in was lavish and, to my eyes, overdone. It was a cheap building and by trying to be classy, the design came across tacky.
“Many men who come here think we’re a pleasure house,” Shrisa said. “We are anything but. If that’s what you’re looking for, I suggest you take Highway East to Xepi’s Choice. They have a fine selection of species and services that cater to every taste.”
“I’m not looking for… that kind of woman,” I said.
“Then what are you here for?” she said.
It felt like a test. If I answered wrong, they would refuse their service. I didn’t realize it would be so difficult.
I decided to tell the truth. Sort of.
“I want to find someone who I might marry one day,” I said.
Shrisa looked me over.
“Why do you need help with something of that nature?” she said. “You don’t seem like the kind of Titan who would have trouble in that area.”
“No,” I said. “But I’m looking for a very… particular type of partner.”
“Why not a female Titan?” she said, peering up at me through her eyelashes.
I gulped. Was she coming onto me?
“It’s pressure from my family,” I said. “And I’d like to date someone who they won’t have influence over.”
“Influence?”
“My family is very… influential,” I said.
She consulted her tablet computer and scrolled through a bunch of species and tapped on their details.
“Is anyone from the inner quadrant acceptable?” she said.
“No,” I said.
She paused and looked up at me.
“None?” she said.
“As I said, they’re very influential,” I said.
“That leaves us with a small pool of distant species only.”
“That’s fine.”
She unselected a bunch of species before pulling up a bunch of others on her tablet.
“I have to warn you, the ones you’re looking for had to be brought in from a great distance,” she said. “Extra courier charges may apply.”
“Price isn’t a problem,” I said.
I paused and caught myself. As a G’kauah, I never had to worry about money. How many times had I said those four words over the years, never having to consider whether I could afford something or not? And soon, if I didn’t meet Mom’s expectations, it would be s
omething I’d have to seriously worry about.
It sent a shiver up my spine.
“If I find the right girl, I’ll need to speak with her before I take her with me,” I said. “I want to discuss my… situation and make sure she’s aware of it.”
“That can be arranged,” Shrisa said.
She motioned for us to continue down the hallway. She took me around one corner, then to a single room with red carpets and gaudy gold gargoyles on the walls.
“Please take a seat,” she said.
I did. Another uncomfortable chair to sit in. Shrisa sat beside me. I peered at her and looked her over.
Would she be interested in being my pretend fiancée? She was a little older than I was looking for but she looked like she’d seen a thing or two. I doubted my situation would shock her.
She clapped her hands and two lines of females filed into the room from behind a wall. They were in good shape and from a wide variety of species. Most I’d never seen before.
Some had brown hair, others blonde, some purple, others bald. The most striking was a female with green skin and dark freckles over her nose. She had wide eyes, pointy ears, and—
That was when I saw her.
She was of medium height for a Titan and didn’t look dissimilar from us. She wasn’t on the dais along with the other girls. She was bent over the trash can, preparing to empty it.
Where the other females had their eyes fixed firmly on me, she was the only one who didn’t make eye contact. She stood with her back straight and stared at something behind us.
At the door.
I wanted her to look at me, to latch eyes with me so I could see into her soul.
But how could I get her attention? She was in a world of her own.
I waved a hand, directly in her peripheral vision. The female blinked. She followed the movement. Her eyes glanced at my hand and then followed it up to my face.
Then my eyes.
She stared at me.
I stared back at her.
The rest of the room faded away. There was no one else there. Just her, standing there, and me in the uncomfortable box chair, our eyes linking us together in a way I could barely describe.
There was something in her eyes, something burning and powerful. A flame that would never go out. She was angry, I realized. Her cheekbones were high and her lips were wide. I felt myself stir but I remained under control.
She was magnificent.
Never in a million years would I have discovered someone like her on a Titan planet. Not ordinarily, at least.
There was aggression in those eyes, a refusal to back down. And yes, more than a little fear.
This was the woman I needed to pull off my plan. A woman who would not back down, would not give up.
A fighter.
“Where is she from?” I said behind my hand. It seemed rude to speak about the women as if they weren’t there. “The one emptying the trash.”
“Excuse me?” Shrisa said. “You have these beautiful creatures to choose from and you’re interested in the help?”
I didn’t change my expression.
“She’s not available,” Shrisa said.
“You own her, don’t you?” I said.
“Yes, but—”
“Then make her available. Trust me, I can make it worth your while.”
Flustered, Shrisa scrolled through the details on her tablet.
“Human,” she said. “From planet Earth.”
Human? Earth?
I had never heard either word before.
Perfect.
“But I have to warn you,” Shrisa said. “We don’t get many humans out here. She’s rare. Her cost will be commensurate with that.”
“Fine,” I said.
That meant not only would Mom know nothing about humans, neither would anyone else out here either.
“And I can’t guarantee how she’ll react,” Shrisa said. “Human females can be a little… hostile. And this one is more difficult than all my other girls put together. If I may, I suggest you choose a different female. She will be more accommodating. And cheaper.”
“She’s what I’m looking for,” I said.
Shrisa frowned at me before clapping her hands. The females turned on their heels and left.
The human female sneered at Shrisa and her clapping hands before leaving.
She was going to be a challenge all right.
But if I could harness that temper, if I could make her see the benefit of playing along, she would convince my mom I had changed.
I couldn’t wait to get started.
Vicky
We filed out of the observation room and into the adjacent waiting area. We’d just presented ourselves to some fancy-pants rich Titan.
Half the girls fell into chairs and fanned themselves with their hands. They whispered giddily about being his “chosen.”
Funny, I thought. He didn’t look all that to me. Sure, he was gorgeous and with a body that made you sit up and beg for more, and his eyes were smoky and sexy, the type that loved peering at you from between your legs while his tongue got to work on you…
I caught myself. I was acting even worse than the other girls!
It was surprising how quickly I got used to being in a room crammed with alien creatures from all four corners of the galaxy. Some were very weird looking. Some had heads with writhing tentacles instead of hair. Others had eyes in the palms of their hands and walked with their arms outstretched.
I was part of a freak show and I was the one considered the weirdo.
“Well, that was uneventful,” Okhet said.
Okhet was a species called Pixarians. Their homeworld was just a few stars across from Earth. In galaxy terms, it meant she was my next-door neighbor. She looked like a human but had green skin and dark freckles over her nose.
“What do you mean it was uneventful?” I said.
I had opted not to be gawped at like a piece of meat and “chosen” by a client. I decided I would play it safe and work as a maid instead. At least there was no chance of me being sold into slavery to these rich dudes for God knew what purpose.
I entered the observation room to empty the bins and collect trash. The whole time, my attention had been focused on the door at the back of the room. Even as invisible as I was to the client, I knew Shrisa would snatch me up in an instant if I made a mad dash for the exit.
Okhet and the others had smiled at the client and turned their bodies to show off their most attractive attributes. For some, it was their eyes, others, their body shape, or their blemishless writhing tentacles.
“Usually, the client comes and inspects us,” Okhet said.
“Inspects you how?” I said.
“They walk among us, talk to us.”
“Touch you?”
“Usually. Yes.”
The thought alone made me feel sick to my stomach.
“How can you stand it?” I said.
“Stand what?”
“Being treated like a piece of meat.”
“It’s part of the process. If you want to date a Titan, it’s not like we have much choice. They only come to our solar systems for business and don’t stay long. Even if they did, it’s rare to date one. You have to come out to their colonies if you want a real chance of snagging one.”
The things we do for love, I thought wryly.
Every species in the galaxy was looking for the same thing. Love. And they were willing to degrade themselves to get it.
“He was a real dish though,” Okhet said. “Don’t you think?”
I never even looked his way when I first entered the room. I was too focused on that door, but it was hard to miss him after he waved his hand. Just looking at him made my throat dry.
He was a Titan and if he was an average specimen of the kind of creatures these Titans were, I could see why other species might flock to find their very own. He was broad across the shoulders and narrow at the waist. He had a square chin and eyes that wer
e hooded and hidden.
I could have stared at him all day.
But when our eyes met, I refused to look away first. I expected him to lose interest and return his attention to the girls on display, but he didn’t.
He kept his eyes locked on mine.
There was a room full of gorgeous females. Why couldn’t he look at them instead?
I found I actually didn’t want him to look at anyone else.
I wanted him to look at me.
“I’ve seen better,” I said with a shrug.
“He spent quite a while looking at you,” Okhet said.
Oops. I didn’t think anyone else noticed.
“Did he?” I said.
“It made some of the other girls jealous.”
“Because a creep stared at me for a while? Pull the other one.”
Okhet frowned.
“What other one?” she said.
“It means, I think you’re joking or not telling the truth.”
“Oh. In my culture, that’s a big insult. To think someone isn’t telling the truth.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean anything by it—”
She had a grin on her face.
“And you’re joking,” I said, playfully slapping her on the arm. “Don’t do that! You know I’m an ignorant human from a backwater planet.”
“Sorry. I couldn’t resist. But I am telling the truth. They are jealous.”
“How do you know that?”
“Look over there at Tentaculus. See how she’s not looking at you but her tentacles are waving this way? It means she’s secretly thinking about you.”
“She might be thinking my hair looks a mess.”
“Maybe. Or she’s secretly attracted to you. One of the two.”
This place was a madhouse.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “If this Titan is so good looking and so rich, why would he need to come to a place like this?”
“Maybe he’s shy or never had a way with the ladies,” Okhet said. “Or maybe he’s into exotic girls and can’t find them anywhere else.”
Or maybe he wants to use us in ways he wouldn’t dare treat a female Titan.