by Enid Titan
Even if I, and every other woman alive, sat through elementary school, he insists on explaining the history of Earth’s space travel to me. He explains the history of our first climate change and the miraculous planetary recovery, followed by the significantly worse disaster that we are living through. In his version of history, the Corporation represents our salvation. He buys their story that without them, we would all be left to suffer and sink into the once again rising seas.
I interrupt his history lesson with a more important question.
“Will there be animals on Terra II?”
“What do you mean by animals?”
I stare at him like he’s stupid. Tucker doesn’t like feeling stupid.
“Do you mean predators, or food, or pets?”
“I’d like a dog.”
“For my wife, anything.”
Fuck off. I hate thinking of myself as his wife. Wives are supposed to love their husbands, not hate them. Wives aren't supposed to feel single.
He smiles, but it’s cold. He hasn’t touched me since we boarded this spaceship. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t want Tucker to touch me like that. This is a marriage of convenience, nothing more, and I am not attracted to Tucker. He’s conventionally attractive, of course. You have to be attractive to work for the Corporation, especially to have a job like his.
He doesn’t ask what kind of dog I would like and instead continues lecturing me about Terra II.
“When we get there, I want you to do all the typical wife stuff. Your mother said you’d be cool with it as long as I did my part.”
He is fine with us being in an arranged marriage, even if no one enters arranged marriages anymore.
“What sort of typical wife stuff?” I say, sounding as bored as I am and staring out the cabin window into the horrifying blackness of space.
For a moment, I hope he says “sex” just so I can have the pleasure of turning him down.
“Cooking, cleaning, making sure I have a packed lunch every day. I need someone to introduce to my bosses and you’re just pretty enough.”
Wow, this guy sure knows how to talk to his wife. Just pretty enough. I know goading Tucker will get me nowhere but I can’t help but roll my eyes.
“Just pretty enough? How much is that out of ten?”
“You know what I mean, Coco.”
“Should we meet any of the other colonists?” I change the subject again.
“Who would you like to meet?”
“That guy from your office… Gerald. He’s pretty hot.”
Tucker scowls.
“Not funny, Coco. You are my wife, remember that. We’ve had our differences in the past but this quid pro quo is supposed to benefit both of us, not just you.”
“Whatever, Tucker.”
“Most women on this mission worked to get here. Be quiet and consider yourself lucky you don’t have to take your chances on our dying planet.”
I get up and storm off into bed. We have to share a bed, so I’m not exactly hiding from him. He follows me and slides under the sheets. I’m lying on top of them. He’s lying on his back and I wonder if he’ll pull me close to him and apologize. I allow myself to forget that what we have isn’t romantic. I remind myself that I never wanted romance.
“You haven’t met my mother yet, have you?” he mutters.
I haven’t. As long as we’ve known each other, Tucker always kept his mother at arm’s length. His dad raised him alone after the divorce. I shake my head.
“Tomorrow, you’ll meet her.”
“We’ve been on this ship for four days and you haven’t seen her once?”
“I’ll see plenty of her when she comes to live with us.”
I sit up sharply.
“I don’t remember anything in the contract about mothers-in-law,” I complain.
I'm looking for anything to complain about. A relative of Tucker's is likely reason enough.
“It was right there on page two,” he says, disinterested.
Of course, it was. And I didn’t read the contract because my mother was the one who signed it.
“Your mother thinks I’m crazy for wanting to bring you,” he says, “I know it will be a huge weight off Clara’s shoulders. I’m doing this for her, not you.”
Right. He’s still in love with my sister, even if he dated me first — too long ago for me to consider him more than a childhood friend. He still cares that he broke her heart. He doesn’t care that all those years ago, he broke mine too.
“I know you aren’t doing this for me.”
“Good. That will make it easier for you then.”
Make what easier for me? I don’t bother asking because talking to Tucker either pisses me off or gives me a headache. This time, it’s a little bit of both and I resent him for it. He snores a little bit after a few minutes and I’m a little annoyed he can sleep so peacefully. I shake him.
“Tucker!”
“What?” He grunts.
“What about aliens?”
“What about them,” he grumbles.
“Will there be aliens on Terra II?”
Earth is filled with aliens. Most of them don’t bother with us. They still consider us primitive and they stick to civilized parts of the planet, not places like Nu-Pheenicks, Arizona. I’ve seen some of them. Devorans, tall, blue and telepathic, which is weird. I’ve seen red-skinned Arietans who look like devils and green Taureans who only come to Arizona for the sand and burning sun. Humans can't live in most of Arizona anymore.
Tucker grunts and leans up.
“Why are you asking about aliens all of a sudden?”
“I’m just asking.”
“You shouldn’t worry about stuff like that. It’s not your job.”
Right. My job is to be his wife. He likes pretending that I wasn’t trained to be a nurse. My predicament is the only thing that stops me from practicing.
“Answer my question,” I huff.
“We don’t know what’s out there. We’re going past the Badlands and neither Earth or her allies will be able to defend us. So far… we’ve seen and heard nothing to indicate there are other aliens out there. Okay?”
Chapter 3
My Husband Is Going To Kill Me
I cry as we land on Terra II. Nobody mentioned how fucking horrifying it is when we strap into our anti-gravity suits and the ship starts hurtling through the atmosphere like a fucking ping pong ball. Tucker offers no warning about the nightmare I’m going to experience and when we do finally land, I rush over to him and push him — hard.
He laughs.
“I knew you’d be scared shitless,” he says.
“You think that was fucking funny? How much training did you have to go through before you went through that without shitting yourself!”
“Considering the fact that you don’t smell, I think you did a great job,” he says, through laughter.
“Did you at least warn your mother?”
I still haven’t met this mysterious woman, even if she’ll be living with us on Tucker’s estate.
“No,” he chuckles, “She’ll be madder than a wet hen.”
“You’re such a fucking idiot,” I grumble.
“You deserve it.”
“Excuse me?”
He grabs my arm and twists, hard.
“Ow! Tucker, let go of me!”
He drags me close to him and glowers.
“Listen here you lying little bitch…I know your mother tricked me into marrying you. The Corporation’s Medical Subdivision has a warrant out for you and they don’t have jurisdiction over Terra II. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”
“Tucker, you’re hurting me.”
He slaps me across the face. Hard.
“Good,” he hisses.
He shoves me away and I fall to the ground. He kicks me in the thigh.
“Get up. I need you to look good when we step out onto the planet for the first time. You are my wife — you belong to me. Completely.”
>
I want to spit on him, or kick him, or fight back, but the look in his eye is meaner than usual. If I mock him or aggravate him further, he won’t just hit me. He will hurt me. I stand up and dust myself off and ignore my trembling legs, adjusting to a ship that isn’t falling through the atmosphere.
“Dress,” he commands, “You look hideous.”
My cheek stings. I want to push him off a bridge.
“I don’t have any clothes."
“Panel on the wall. Get some. And cover your midsection. I don't want you looking like a whore.”
My cheeks flush hot with humiliation. I know I shouldn’t let him get to me, but we did date once, and my old wounds are still vulnerable to his jabs. I get clothes, a dress that cinches at the waist, skimming my tummy. Tucker links arms with me and kisses the top of my head. I recoil and my stomach tightens.
“Much better. Are you looking forward to meeting my mother, Mrs. Bell?”
“No.”
I scowl and he ignores me because he’s won. I’m lightyears away from Earth or anyone who can help me and my secret isn’t safe. I’m married to a monster who knows what I’ve been holding back and if he keeps my secret, it won’t be because he cares about me.
We step out onto the tarmac and the Corporation soldiers lined up on both sides of us salute as music plays. A woman approaches Tucker and slides her arm through his available arm. She’s older than him and she smiles gently, waving at me. How could a woman like this have produced him?
I remind myself that even my mother looks like a normal person and she’s as reptilian as they come. When we’re finished processing, a soldier driving a solar Jeep approaches the three of us.
“Mr. & Mrs. Bell, welcome. Ms. Michaels.”
Tucker sits in the front of the Jeep, leaving me in the back seat with his mother. I stare out the window as we start driving. I don’t know what to say to her and I’m pissed at Tucker, not too interested in making friends. Terra II is significantly smaller than Earth, around the size of our moon with one habitable continent surrounded by algae infested oceans. I've heard the rivers here are deadly, but I don't know. Tucker's lectures mostly bored me.
The continent should look like Earth but it only looks like a bad approximation. The trees are weird with leaves shooting out of their trunks and the animals here are… different.
I understand why Tucker didn’t want to tell me about them. I’m lost staring at a red-feathered bird around the size of a cat that surges past the Jeep when I feel a sharp pinch on my leg. I almost exclaim out loud before turning to look at Tucker’s mother, Ms. Michaels.
“Hello, dear,” she croaks, “You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m Ingrid Michaels. Tucker’s mother. What on Earth possessed you to marry my monster of a son?”
Chapter 4
My Husband Requires My Obedience
I never find an answer for Tucker’s mother. She seems submissive and she stays out of our way once we land, retreating to her corner of the house, which feels oversized. No one on Earth lives in houses like this anymore. There are too many of us and there simply isn’t enough room. This is why the colonists have come here. The wealthy yearn for space, they yearn for freedom, and those with high-status within the corporation blame us for the stifled Earth, even if their consumption is what will bring us to our doom.
Tucker and I share a master bedroom in the West Wing of the mansion. He reminds me with his every word that he has won. I never fooled him in the first place, and I never will. I follow him quietly into our master bedroom after the soldiers who guard our home drag our trunks behind us. He closes the door behind them, thanking them kindly with a warm but false smile. Once we are alone, his expression drops and he reminds me that living with him is dangerous. He’s a blue-eyed viper who will strike if I’m not careful. I am already too careless. I am playing this all wrong and if I don’t pretend to care about Tucker, he’ll turn his anger towards me again.
“Tucker, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” I say to him, in my best effort to comply with what he wants from me.
“If you told me the truth, I would have still married you.”
I move closer to him and remember a time when those blue eyes hypnotized me. I call those girlish feelings to my mind and stare up at him, bashfully and innocently.
“We are married,” I remind him, “And I’m willing to do… everything for you that a wife would do. That a wife should do.”
I press my hand to his chest and I hope to the stars that he’s buying my loving wife act. I need this man to keep my secret. I need this man to keep me on this planet. I need this man to have a reason not to cast me out onto the street. Surviving on Earth is hard enough. Here, I have no one.
Tucker scowls.
“What things do you mean?”
“Wife… things… Anything you want.”
I do my best to sound seductive. Tucker laughs. Okay. This isn’t the response I’m hoping for and his laughter sounds cruel.
“You think I want you for sex?” He blurts out as if the idea of having sex with his wife is the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard of.
“Why else would you want a wife?” I snap.
“This universe is filled with aliens of all shapes and sizes who are far more appealing to me than humans.”
“So, you want an alien woman?”
“I want a woman that’s better than you for sex,” he says calmly.
I recoil from him and realize that he’s only saying this to make me angry. What the fuck does Tucker have against me? I know he’s an asshole, and we do hate each other, but his attacks are biting and personal.
“Where does that leave us?”
“I don’t care where it leaves you. I can’t show up to work for the Corporation with an alien whore on my arm. I need you. As long as you behave and abide by my rules, I don’t care what you do.”
“What rules?”
Tucker snickers.
“You really should have read the contract.”
He reaches into his breast-pocket, where of course he keeps it. The contract contains multiple clauses that I balk at. No one in their right mind would sign this. The fact that my mother has signed it sends me reeling. She signed me up for this knowing that I’d be standing here, facing Tucker alone on an alien world with no one to call for help.
I mutter some of the clauses out loud to myself, “…the signee will remain faithful to Tucker Bell. If the signee commits adultery against Tucker Bell, she will be subject to a punishment of Tucker Bell’s choosing.”
“What the fuck, Tucker?”
“I know you, Coco. I can’t have you running around sleeping with all my coworkers. The planet is small. People talk.”
“You can sleep around, but I can’t?”
“Correct,” he nods.
“I fucking hate you.”
Tucker shrugs.
“It won’t be unlike most marriages.”
I try not to tear up as I keep reading.
“…the signee will not attempt to touch or kiss her husband, Tucker Bell, or initiate any sexual contact of any kind…”
“What the fuck, Tucker?”
“I don’t need you catching me in a moment of weakness, Coco. We both know how you can get. I mean, when we dated, you weren’t exactly hard to get.”
“Are you calling me a slut?”
“You’re worse than a slut. You’ll sleep with a guy just to get something from him. I’m taking a big risk allowing someone like you in my house.”
“You act like I’m some kind of a heartless bitch.”
Tucker grins.
“There was a reason you were drawn to me, right? We’re both cut from the same cloth. We’re both cutthroats. We’ll do anything to survive. I get it. I just don’t need you sinking your claws into me.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever hated you more than I do right now.”
Tucker shrugs and snatches the contract back from me.
“Good. Now this afternoon, you
will take my mother out to the town center. I’ll send you a security detail so you don’t have to worry about anything.”
“If this planet is safe, why do you worry so much about security?”
“Cosima, my wife, such matters are not your concern. Your concern is obedience.”
Obedience. He saw me as an object in every sense of the word. My loathing for him chilled me to the bone.
“Yes, Tucker.”
“Good girl,” he murmurs and pats the top of my head like I really am a dog, “Now get my bitch of a mother out for some fresh air. I don’t want her going stale.”
Chapter 5
My Mother-In-Law Wants Grandkids
Ingrid slips her arm into mine as we walk down the High Street with two soldiers. They’re both mostly human. I think the one in front of us might be half or a quarter alien. He’s lucky he was born without horns but his ears are a dead giveaway. Ingrid elbows me and whispers, “I wonder if he has a tail.”
She’s thinking what I am thinking. In Arizona, we don’t get many aliens. The High Street is populated with small stores, all owned by individuals in theory, but in reality, practically all of them are leased by the Corporation. Ingrid stops in the window of a jewelry store.
“Did Tucker add your fingerprint to his bank account yet?”
“Yes,” I tell her and she squeals.
“Oh goodie. I think it’s time you went shopping, dear.”
I’m not usually someone who enjoys shopping. All those material things piling up in landfills and getting shipped to other moons and outer planets really rubs me the wrong way.
Just because we aren’t destroying our home doesn’t mean destroying someone else’s is okay. We tell ourselves the planets are uninhabited, but I don’t trust the Corporation to be honest about that.
We enter the jewelry store. In school, we learned that diamonds used to be valuable on Earth. I don’t understand why. They’re clear, and boring, unlike Martian Firestones. Ingrid grabs my hand and ogles a necklace with a large firestone pendant hanging from a gold chain.