by Alma Nilsson
Dru kept the shade to her floor to ceiling window up so that she could fall asleep looking at the busy alien city outside. She suspected it was late afternoon now and there were thousands of transports silently flying through the forest of tall rectangular stone buildings surrounding theirs. Tears were silently rolling down her cheeks again. The confidence she had found in the shower had been short-lived. She was sad having to start all over again. She had only had four short years outside the Exterior and she had finally felt like she was beginning to belong to something on the Dakota. Now, if they weren’t rescued, she would have to start all over again on an alien world, having to relearn and integrate. However, unlike on Earth, she had doubts as to whether or not she could ever integrate into an alien society. But again, the thought crept back into her mind, But what if we are the Lost People? She shooed the thought away again and closed her eyes, trying to think of nothing but it didn’t work. She cried so much she shook. Her grief in that moment was overwhelming. She didn’t know how long she cried, but when she took in the city again, the afternoon sun faded into blurred darkness. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was, Tonight is the last night I’ll allow myself to cry like this. I’ll conquer this too… and find pajamas.
Ket of House Vo was onboard the Alliance Alpha starship Tuir. He was the Chief Medical Officer under the command of Admiral Ver. He was in his private circular glass office in the center of sickbay and was reading the Day, the daily news report from the High Council. An article caught his attention, Admiral Tir Rescues 27 Human Women. He opened the article and began reading about the 27 human women that were now Alliance citizens. It was no secret that the Alliance had a demographics problem and the only stopgap they could think of without using medical technology was to integrate human women into the top tiers of their society. The Alliance had no separation between its religion and its government. As such, it was heresy to alter embryos, as it would be seen as interfering with fate and the gods’ wills. As a result, the Alliance was now relying heavily on their Lost People myth to bring human women into their fold to balance out the uneven numbers between the sexes.
Ket smiled when he saw that it was Tir who had taken the human ship in his last encounter with the Jahay and their allies. The last time they were all having drinks, Tir boasted that he would do exactly this. He had told Ket, ‘Someone needs to jumpstart this thing. We’ve been all talk about the humans for years now.’ In front of him, Ket flipped through the faces of the 27 human women and their biographies. He flipped past one with shocking red hair and then went back to the picture. Ket stared at the official human fleet picture, it was a standard galaxy image of her whole body. The woman was looking directly into the camera wearing a fitted uniform, her long red hair pulled up messily in a distinctly human fashion and she had the curviest figure he had ever seen. Of course, he had seen humans before and his opinion about them was, as most in the galaxy, that humans were the most beautiful and enchanting creatures ever created, but deeply misguided. They spent too much time making things beautiful and pondering the meaning of life, rather than working hard to better their civilization and quality of life.
Ket looked again at the picture of the red-haired human, he couldn’t deny the woman was gorgeous. He loved the way her big green eyes were serious and that she had plump pink lips that were almost turned up in a smile, the kind of lips that were perfect for long sensual kisses. He wondered if her nipples and the folds of her labia were also the same color pink. He almost got an erection just thinking about it. He tapped on the picture and the computer began reading out all the known information about the woman, “Drusilla Anne James, 22 Earth years old, human, birthplace, unknown, mother, unknown, father, unknown, siblings, unknown, marital status, single. Most recent post, Junior Doctor in the human fleet on the Dakota under the command of Captain Kara Rainer, both now Alliance citizens. Captain Kara Rainer now Captain Kara of House Zu by marriage to Admiral Tir of House Zu. Drusilla Anne James now a part of House Human, Residential Ring Four, Capital City, Capital Planet, Alliance Empire. Do you wish to see the details of her Space Port One medical exam?” the computer asked.
“Yes, I’ll read it myself,” he quickly read the report and he knew that the Space Port One doctors had kept a lot of the information confidential. But from what he could piece together, Drusilla was very healthy and had a lot of spirit. The only thing that troubled him was her young age and her sexual inexperience, he wondered if she was a virgin because they had to perform a sexual qualifying test.
He said her name out loud then, “Drusilla,” letting it roll across his tongue. “Strange name,” he said quietly to himself, but then thought, She is human after all. They have strange names.
He smiled when he saw that she had resisted having her nipples pierced. He couldn’t help but think, And I’d love to show you how pleasurable it can be to have those piercings and your breasts adorned with the finest jewelry.
He read through the rest of her file and was satisfied, not only was she a doctor, which was convenient as he must marry a doctor as he was a part of the First Imperial Medical House, but also that her telepathic levels were some of the highest, he had ever seen. He pondered then if her lack of sexual experience was due to her being able to read her lovers’ thoughts and being turned off. He remembered his own first sexual experiences and how difficult it was for him to block the other person’s thoughts as sometimes it was terrifying to know what the other person was thinking in those intimate moments.
The only thing that made him pause was the Chief Doctor’s note,
Obstinate human. Failure to comply. Failure to understand her situation. Strict routines. Punishments.
However, Ket had the advantage of actually knowing Chief Doctor Anu and that she was not an understanding woman. She was the kind of person who would expect these humans to arrive and be thrilled to be in the Alliance. She would have no sympathy especially for one so young, Ket thought. He compared Drusilla’s reaction to what his own sister’s might have been in the same situation and decided she would have reacted in the same fiery way. No one wants to leave what they know, unless they absolutely must or are forced to.
Ket looked at Drusilla’s human fleet picture again for some minutes weighing out the pros and cons of pursuing this woman. He couldn’t decide in his office, so he left sickbay and went to the Tuir’s common shrine. There he lit a candle and prayed in front of the goddess of fertility for many minutes thinking about Drusilla. When he finished praying, he returned to his office and opened the Alliance Ban Application and logged in. He found her name and cursed; three men had already put a ban on her. Thankfully, he was higher ranking than them all and could pay the most so he would out rank them and outbid them. Then he wrote:
Ket of House Vo claims the ban on the human Junior Doctor, Drusilla Anne James of House Human, for one year from this day, 4th day of the 33rd week of the year 18904.
He paid the exorbitant fee in the amount of 2,000,000 UC as she was counted by the ban committee, a group of older men who review all the eligible women. The committee reasoned that she was the most desirable of the 26, still single, human women traded for by Admiral Tir. It was no surprise Drusilla was expensive to keep to himself, she was the youngest among them and a doctor. She was the most likely to assimilate to Alliance society, if that was possible. The humans’ ability to assimilate had been what had kept the Alliance from formally moving forward with the human government to begin with.
After Ket placed the ban, he was assured that no single men could speak to her or court her for an entire year. If a man below him in rank tried to do either, he would challenge him to a duel and Ket was good with his sword and had a reputation of never walking away when a duel could solve an issue. Most men would think twice about talking to Drusilla while the ban was running. Then when he returned to the Capital Planet after the war, he would pursue her. He thought to himself that it was a good omen from the gods that the ban would end, and she would come of age o
n the same day a year from now.
Ket looked back at the picture of Drusilla, saved it to his IC and said quietly to himself, “And let’s hope you are just as enchanted by me as I am by you my fiery human beauty.” Then he left his office to attend to a patient who had just come in.
Later that evening in his quarters, Ket received a VM from Tir, “Ket, I just saw the ban. I told you this would be a good thing. I’m sure you know that I already married their human captain. When I saw Kara, I had to have her. Although I must admit it has been more difficult than I imagined it would be to tame Kara into our culture. Perhaps things will be easier with yours as she is on the planet and other women are helping her. I only have slave artists here and I feel like they hinder more than help sophisticate my wife. I expect I’ll see you soon when we decide about reparations with the Jahay and their allies, this war won’t last too much longer. Our enemies are weak. And you know what I will ask for from the humans. May the gods light your path and the Empire always rise,” Tir signed out.
Ket smiled to himself and then said to the open screen, “Gods Tir, we are friends, but I’m nothing like you. I’ll give this poor woman an opportunity to say ‘no’.” Everyone had been shocked at what Tir had done, pressuring his wife to marry so quickly. Even though it was obvious she liked him, it was still something that was not done, well had not been done for centuries. But Tir was that kind of man. He just pushed everyone and all the rules all the time. He always made people slightly uncomfortable, making people wonder if he was really laughing with them or at them.
Ket was really nothing like Tir. He was a telepath from a family of telepaths. Where Tir was gregarious and popular, Ket was reserved and some would call him arrogant. Both men were from Imperial families dedicated to the Empire and deeply religious. Both were tall, muscular and handsome, but where Tir had big green eyes and a congenial face, Ket had strong symmetrical features and a strong jaw with sharp grey eyes. People easily warmed to Tir but were cautious around Ket. His reputation as a superior swordsman who wasn’t shy to duel didn’t help his ability to easily make friends either. However, people should have been more fearful of Tir, the next in line to be Emperor, than Ket, who would always be a doctor onboard a starship.
Ket opened a message from his father. He had no doubt that this was also about the ban. Every time a ban was made; all men received a message about it so there could be no misunderstandings.
Ket,
I am surprised you put a ban on the young human woman. Her telepathic abilities are desirable, but humans are feral. They are a people of pleasure and nonsense. Earth is voted the Best Party Planet every year by the Galaxy Court, they are not a serious species. It is good that you have the year to observe her. That being said, when your mother read the article about the human women the other evening after dinner, she stopped at your Drusilla’s image and said to us all, ‘Ket should marry this one,’ and you know your mother is very rarely mistaken so maybe I am wrong and it is possible to tame a human. She is, like all of her species, beautiful with all her colorings, but can she be civilized? I guess we will all see in a year’s time. Also, the sword from your last duel arrived. I put it with the others in the storage room in your house. Your mother suspects you and Tir have something planned. Write to her and calm her otherwise she will be in my head every waking moment and I can’t have that. May the gods light your path and the Empire always rise.
Juh
Ket sighed, his father was so prejudice he would rather watch the Empire crumble than bring in human women. This message’s content came as no surprise. Ket was much more of a risk-taker than his father and Ket recognized Drusilla’s potential in the Empire outweighed her being human, so she was worth the risk. His sister was unlikely to have many children. If his family was to remain First Imperial Family, either he or his brother needed to marry and have daughters who were also telepaths. Although, his older brother Kio had said on many occasions that he wanted to die fighting for the Empire rather than take a wife. Ket on the other hand, had always imagined himself as a husband and father. Never had he imagined it with a human woman, but now he saw the opportunity and opened his mind to it.
Ket brought up the picture of Drusilla again and said, “And you. What can I do for you?” he thought about it for a minute and then brought up an Alliance storefront on one of his screens. Then he chose a beautiful black wooden comb and organized it to be sent to Drusilla anonymously. And so, began the game; women always knew when a ban was put on another woman by a high-ranking man as no men would talk to her. Then, it would become a game between the sexes to figure out who and why and when it would end. It would be speculated about all year and then at the end of the year, the ban would be made public. Ket smiled to himself wondering if anyone would be able to figure it out before the year was up. Then he took off all of his clothes and got into bed thinking about the black comb sliding through her long red hair. He thought she was so perfect. Red represented modernity and the future in the Alliance and black, longevity and stability, Red also represents instability, he reminded himself, but he brushed that thought from his mind.
A New Life
Dru woke up the next day and realized that she had been so exhausted from the last weeks that she had slept for over 16 hours. She got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom. She took off her dress but left her thigh-high stockings on and went to the toilet. She looked at the top of her stockings as she sat there thinking how odd it was that Alliance women still wore such old-fashioned clothing, but she had to admit that the stockings were both warm and comfortable. After she finished, she stood up and looked at her reflection in the large oval mirror. She was naked except for the black stockings, and she took in her body, she was thinner than she had ever been in her life. If she raised her arms, she could easily see her ribs, but otherwise she looked healthy. All except her nipple piercings that were an angry red and still hurt. “Mirror,” she said, and the mirror turned on. “Do you have any painkillers? My nipples hurt.” Dru figured she might as well start by asking the mirror. She had no idea to the limit of Alliance technology. Human bathrooms did have some of these same functions but very few, and they didn’t usually work well enough to be reliable. The mirror turned itself on, “Good morning Drusilla. I do have a wide variety of medicine. However, you are still being punished, therefore I cannot provide you with any pain relief until your guardian allows it.”
Dru looked at her reflection in the lit mirror and asked angrily, “Who is my guardian?”
“Jane Johnson.”
“May I help you with something else? A new hair style?” asked the mirror congenially.
“No. Turn off mirror,” the mirror’s light went out and Dru couldn’t help but ask out loud, “Punishment? What am I? A child?” she questioned as she walked out of the bathroom. Despite all the shame and embarrassment from yesterday, she didn’t feel so defeated anymore. She felt emotionally more stable today and angry at not being able to seek pain relief.
She opened her wardrobe and took out a navy-blue dress and put it on over her stockings with no bra or underwear. She winced when the fabric touched her nipples and muttered some curse words. Then she went over to her desk and brought up the computer. She couldn’t use it. It was locked in the Alliance written language. Then she saw her identity necklace, put it on and went out to find Madame Bai and Jane and get this sorted. She knew that there was no way Jane was holding this punishment over her.
She passed a slave in green in the dark, yellow stone hallway, “Where is Madame Bai?”
“She isn’t here. She will be here after the midday meal.”
“I’m hungry. Is there breakfast?”
“You missed the morning meal. The midday meal is in three hours. Bless the gods for organizing our days,” the slave said flatly and walked away.
Dru just stood there alone and said sarcastically, “Bless the gods, indeed.”
Dru found her way to the drawing room with the circular black sofas surrounding
the large fire. It was strange to see all the familiar faces, clean and now all wearing Alliance dresses of various colors sitting together with the Alliance Capital City sprawled out behind them. Dru came in quietly, sat down and began listening to their conversation.
“I’m sure that our government will negotiate for our release. The Alliance can’t just take us. We can’t be traded away like possessions, we’re people. This must go against some galactic laws and the Galaxy Court can do something,” one of the women said confidently. The Galaxy Court takes actions on issues in the galaxy concerning its members, over 50,000 species. These actions include, peace and security, sustainable development, galactic species rights, disarmament, governance and more. The Galaxy Court also provides a platform for its members to express their views. However, only 1,000 seats are available for the General Assembly, most of which are taken by the richest and most powerful members.
Another laughed, “What do you imagine our government would negotiate our release with? The Alliance doesn’t want anything Earth has to offer, except for women apparently. We should feel lucky that they actually went through the charade of making it look like a trade, they could’ve just taken all human women and there is no one in the galaxy to stop them. Humans don’t even have a seat on the Galaxy Court. No one takes us seriously. I’ve not got high hopes for a rescue or anyone caring that we are here except for humans, who can do nothing and Alliance who feel they are giving us some kind of gift by abducting us.”