by Wells, Juno
Tabor’s normally so matter-of-fact about taking care of us that I sometimes toy with the idea that he’s just following someone else’s orders to make sure we’re fed and sheltered. He rarely looks us in the eye or spares us much face-to-face attention. He just goes about his day, and in the process, checks in on us regularly.
I’m guessing that in their world, Kendra and I are a bit of an anomaly. All the other women stay either at the luxurious apartment complex that’s been set aside for incoming brides or are hosted by one of the prominent families.
My sister and I have set up a rough campsite out near one of the mining pits and spend our days digging for gemstone. It’s plentiful near the surface, and Queen Hope thinks exchanging gemstone for a trade ship is a spiffy idea. Our new home world is growing by leaps and bounds. We need not only more women for the multitude of unmated warriors but also supplies to outfit their new homes.
Kendra and I have signed contracts that we’ll eventually take Draconian mates and settle here, so the sky’s the limit. Truth be told, we do plan to live here, right after we make one final trip to Earth. Though that’s not part of the approved plan, I’ll bet if we return with extra female settlers, the new provisional government will be happy as clams. Since Earth is slowly dying, I’m certain we’ll have more volunteers than space to haul them. I just need to stick to my plan.
Tabor’s normally blank expression was scrunched into a frown as he looked at Kendra. It’s pretty clear that he doesn’t think she should be looking at the younger warriors and I can guess why. We’re the dirty scruffy outsiders, even on this out-of-the-way planet. No one’s ever wanted us around, and these warriors are no different. Screw them all!
I also know why Kendra is staring at the young males. It’s because there are so few guys her age to choose from. If she doesn’t want to end up with someone twice her age, those are two of the maybe dozen on the planet. Since there are new women coming all the time, and often with children and teens, she has a small window of opportunity to lure a mate. Normally, I’d say she’s too young, but the situation is what it is.
I know that I need to do something to help her be more appealing to the few young warriors she meets, but the truth is we don’t have time to waste on mating right now, much less uptight warriors like Tabor or worrying about why no men are interested in mating with us. Time is of the essence.
That’s why we’re leaving for Denar Five shortly. It’s the first step in my plan and the closest planet where I can find a used ship and enough spare parts to get it running. Kendra and I spent every waking moment learning ship repairs during our trip to this planet. Granted, we both worked as mechanics on Earth, but since everything went to crap, there wasn’t much work about. That’s why we signed up for the bride’s registry, to get off planet and try to scare up resources to go back for the ones we left behind. None of the jobs we did on Earth would have prepared us to work on a spaceship anyways. We had to learn that in real time while getting attacked by the Moltan. Thank God we made it out of that skirmish alive.
Squeezing my sister’s shoulder, I decide to do what I can for her. “Come on Kendra, we need to talk.”
Her hear swivels around and her eyes lock with mine. “What’s up? Am I in trouble again?”
Grinning like a mad fool, I shake my head. “Not this time. Let’s get out of here and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Coming swiftly to her feet, she follows me out a side door and outside the training dojo. I pull her down onto a nearby bench and we huddle close. “We need to talk about finding you a husband.”
Her eyes dart around. “I know we signed that contract but I don’t want to end up with an old man. If it comes down to that, I’d rather die.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. It won’t come down to that, because there are a dozen warriors in your age group to choose from. I realize that’s a very limited selection…”
She whispers quickly, “There are only nine left. Three have been mated over the last few weeks. The good news is that there are only five women left under the age of twenty-five. That leaves me with four to choose from.”
Taking her hands in mine, I try to keep some kindness in my voice rather than the cold fear that’s in danger of edging in. “More ships are landing every day. We don’t know how many are carrying younger women.”
Her face falls and her eyes drift closed. “No one wants us. You know that. We both know that deep down inside.”
“We just need to work on our image. I want you out of that uniform and at least in clean clothing. I know we’ve been frantic to scrape together enough gemstone to get us back home, but we can’t keep running around with dirt on our clothing and sweaty faces.”
“We’re working twenty-hour days, grabbing a shower and food, and hopping back down into the pit. I don’t think it makes much sense to doll ourselves up between bouts of hard manual labor.”
The truth of her words sucks all the motivation right out of me. When I open my mouth, no words come out, so I snap it shut again.
Her voice sounds guilty. “What about you? Do you plan to make sure you’re looking hot when we’re around men?”
Suddenly, I see the humor in our sad little situation and snort a laugh. “I’ve got plenty of warriors to pick from, so there’s no rush. Maybe there’s one out there that likes dirty little ragamuffins like me.”
Grinning back at me, she quips, “Well, I hope he has a brother.”
I suck in a deep breath and try again. “All right, we’ll make a pact. Once we leave this planet, we’ll wear uniforms for work and clean up real nice when we’re off duty.” I hold out my hand for her to shake.
Tentatively putting her hand in mine, she chews her bottom lip.
“What are you thinking?” I can’t imagine how difficult this situation is for her.
“You signed on one of the young warriors to our crew.”
Nodding, I murmur, “He’s a fully trained healer. We need his skills. Is he the one you were staring at? He’s pretty handsome.”
Shrugging, she replies casually, “I was just checking them both out.”
“Tabor recommended the other one and he signed on as a scout. They say he’s good at tracking down parts and people. I figured that since he’s small, he might fit in tight spaces and be able to reach things the larger warriors can’t when we’re tearing parts out of old vehicles at the shipyard.”
As she draws her hand back from shaking mine, she looks pensive. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but neither of them can get chosen by another queen if they’re on this mission with us.”
I see where her mind is. “You’re absolutely right. I like where your head is on this one. Want me to see if we can sign a few more of the younger ones onto our crew?”
“Nope. I’ve got plans for those two.”
I jolt upright in my seat. “You can’t have two mates. That would be greedy.”
“I never said that I wanted both of them.”
Suddenly, it hits me what her plan is, and I give her a stern warning. “You’re playing with fire, and if you’re not real careful you will get burnt, sis.”
Giving me a snazzy two finger salute, she deadpans back, “Your concerns are duly noted, Queen Kearney.”
“Don’t call me that. You know how much I hate it.”
Kendra leans back and stretches her arms above her head, yawning. “Speak for yourself. I’m looking forward to being treated like royalty by my guy. Are you up for one more trek through the gemstone pit?”
I stand and stretch too. “Sure, why not. Everything in the ‘verse seems to cost a fortune. We’re lucky that we can just dig up gemstones to pay our way. Do you want to stop and get some food to take with us for tonight?”
“Hell no, until we make our final run to Earth, I’ll drink hydration packs and eat food bars.”
I can’t help but smile. Kendra is about as self-sacrificing as I am. Nothing comes before our final trip. We both pick up our speed. Time is money, literally in our case
.
On our way back, I can’t help but feel a little happier. Just knowing that Kendra might have a chance at a real relationship warms my soul. I decide to have words with Tabor when he next crosses my path. I won’t have him interfering in her personal life.
Images of my parents drift through my mind. Her meeting him at the door when he came home. The two of them cuddled on the sofa, kissing and holding hands. I can still remember the way he smiled at her. He always had a big sappy look on his face when they were together. That’s the image burned into my mind about love, not the blank expressions all the warriors wear when they look at my grubby clothing and dirty skin.
I remember the devastated expression Mama wore after our father passed, and how we were her only solace and source of happiness for the last few months before we left Earth. Even though she was grieving, she always made us all feel wanted and loved. Emotion swells in my chest, threatening to close off my throat. I know deep down inside that I’m not half the woman my mother is. Yet, she’s stuck, starving on Earth, and I’m here wallowing in gemstone.
We’ve got to get back to her before it’s too late. I imagine what’s left of our little family, huddled in a cave, slowly going through their rations. Kendra and I bought them a provision from the money we got after signing up for the bride’s registry. It was a substantial amount, but food is expensive on Earth, and there were many mouths to feed. I’ve ordered several crates of food bars to take with us because I want them to have the nutrient-dense ones when we first arrive. Knowing they are probably starving is why my sister and I would burn in hell before we enjoyed a nice meal while our loved ones waste away, shivering in the cold.
After we got our payout, we huddled and went through all our options. Even with our combined payouts, we couldn’t afford to house them in one of the huge underground cities. That left two options. They could be homeless in the lower level, which was riddled with crime and drugs or they could be renegades. Renegades were few and far between. They lived in underground bunkers or deep dark caves. Since we knew of a huge underground cave from before the fall, my family elected to go there.
Kendra and I made trip after trip with warm blankets, tarps for the ground to keep the moisture out of their bedding. We bought cases of food pellets, oatmeal, wheat and dehydrated foodstuffs. We searched out any cheap food we could find and a water purification unit for the strange stagnant water that ran through the back of the cave. We spent another several weeks gathering firewood and hauling large logs to bank down their fires. Lastly we secured one course of antibiotics in case one of them became ill. It was all we could afford. Looking back, that was almost two years ago and seems like far too little to sustain their numbers.
3 Sister Queens
Tabor
The shuttle jolts beneath our feet. Since there is standing room only, we are each holding onto a safety ring situated overhead. It’s almost comical how we all jerk forward at the same time, like puppets controlled by the same master. Phan glances back at me. Though he’s proficient at maintaining a warrior’s face, I can see the amusement in his eyes. Suddenly, the shuttle stabilizes and the back and side doors pop open and slide straight up, revealing the stark arid desert of Denar Five.
We chose this destination because it is a junkyard planet, and we have but one task. We are to build a ship worthy of a queen, or in our case two queens. The sister queens, Kearney and Kendra have determined they wish to be traders and have called forth about fifty warriors to crew their ship. My brother and I decided to strike out on our own. The humdrum activity of residing on our new home world seems dull compared to excitement of being in space. We now have queens to serve and protect, which give us a feeling of direction and pride.
Disembarking, we wait for the other two shuttles to land. Queen Hope’s ship brought us to this planet. However the Raspian is sorely needed to stand sentry around our home world and perform other necessary missions. Therefore, it will stay in orbit only long enough to drop us off and for their shuttles to return.
We all snap to attention when the sister queens step from their shuttle. I’ve never seen two queens who looked more alike than Queen Kearney and Queen Kendra. Both of the fair skinned females have very long pale-yellow hair, which they normally keep pulled back off their faces in a long cascade down their back. Wary light blue eyes dart around anxiously, scanning for danger. I have often thought they must have had unpleasant experiences with males to be so hypervigilant.
I commanded their ship briefly when we rescued them from attack by the Moltan. They no longer look frail, dirty and gaunt like they did when we first met them. Though still too thin for my liking, they’ve filled out somewhat.
My mouth dries as my eyes slide over the older one’s gently rounded hips. She’s wearing a tight-fitting flight suit. Though her waist is tiny, the magnetic seams appear to be about to burst apart at the chest and again across her hips. She is wearing a uniform designed for a male youth—and it shows. If the seams did indeed burst, one can only imagine what delights would spill forth.
Phan’s wings rustle slightly, and I notice that he’s staring at the younger queen again. More than staring, I think. Warriors never miss an opportunity to gaze upon a queen, but my brother’s preoccupation with Queen Kendra is concerning and obvious. I hate to see him take such an interest in her, when it’s clear she is preoccupied with Timric. It must be confusing for my brother, because he is always standing side by side with his friend. My brother has barely earned his first stripe and dares to wish for a queen of his own already. His ambition would be shocking if it weren’t born of such innocence.
I state quietly, “You make yourself obvious, brother. Guard your eyes.”
Not looking at me, he continues to stare at the young queen. “Why should I? I am as worthy as any warrior to be chosen.”
Timric glances from one to the other of us and keeps his head down. Smart young warrior that he is, Timric clearly is not ready to be chosen.
It’s exasperating that Phan sees all others around us being chosen, and it leads him to think that luring a queen is easy. If he bothered to simply do the math, he’d know that our chances of being chosen are astronomical. Our clade is neither prominent, nor are we actual breeders. We are warriors with pretty faces and nice bodies that queens use for pleasure before casting us aside in favor of true breeders. I have seen it happen often. Our sire was humiliated to be cast aside. I have no desire to grow a genuine liking for a queen, only to fall out of favor and be forced to stand by while she bestows her affection upon a male capable of producing many young in one breeding cycle. Why would any queen settle for a male who can only spawn only one or two hatchlings, while there are males who can spawn a dozen at a time?
It is a moot issue since these queens in particular do not seem inclined to mate. Their beds are always bare of warriors. I’ve never known queens who did not allow warriors to tend to their needs. Perhaps they are born of a clad that has no such needs to tend.
The queens move forward in unison, their eyes seeking out their commander. Tearing myself from my internal musings, I step forward to meet them. Dropping onto one knee, I touch the ground with one hand. It is the traditional posture of submission, and it bothers me not to take it, because I know they are trustworthy queens.
“Rise, Tabor, and give your report.” Queen Kearney’s voice holds a note of resignation, and I decide this mission is important to her. I will endeavor to do my best to ensure she is not disappointed.
I come to my feet and heft my wing base up into the correct position for walking, rather than flying. “Welcome to Denar Five, my queens.” The other males move around us, unloading the cargo I’ve carefully packed for this mission. “I’ve selected eight ships for you to inspect. Five are freighters, one is a battle cruiser, and the other two are mid-size trade vessels.”
“Are the Denarians agreeable to us making repairs on their planet? I remember there being some objection to that during the negotiations, and I’m not wild about
hauling all this junk into space to put it together.”
“We worked that out by offering a substantial bonus. Your quarters should be set up within about thirty microns. Would you like to refresh yourselves before inspecting the wares?”
Queen Kendra chimed in, “Heck, no. We’ve been sitting around for days. I’ve been bored out of my mind. We should get right to work.”
Her older sister queen nods her head in agreement. “Let’s not waste any time. I want to get a ship up and running as soon as possible.”
I can’t help but wonder what the rush is, but I remain silent. Questioning the motivation of queens is taboo among my kind. I also have no wish to displease a queen simply to satisfy my own curiosity. Queens are wise and competent leaders. Mine has done nothing to suggest she is anything other than eager to get the job done.
“If you will follow me, we will speak with the owners of this stockyard, and then we will seek out the perfect ship for your needs. I have mapped where the most desirable vessels are located.”
When I turn, they come up on each side of me. The guards I’ve assigned fall into line behind us. Naturally, Phan and Timric are not on the roster of guards I assigned to watch over our queens.
The sister queens are eager to see everything and meet the beings who run the business. Denarians are huge creatures with thick muscular tentacle arms and legs. A round sheath of leathery skin covers their head, and four shoulders ending in eight long, tentacle-shaped arms. Another sheath of thick skin juts out from under their arms going down to form six thick, tentacle-like legs. The creature has no suckers on the underside of their arms and legs like some species. The have thick ridges that make picking up spare parts easy. They don’t speak or make any kind of noise that a humanoid can discern. All their communication takes place through electronic devices. Each Denarian carries a huge electronic tablet the size of a sleeping platform, slipping it into a specially designed case on the creature’s back when not in use. In turn, we stand at one of the dozens of communication terminals to key in our request. It’s really just a metal podium jutting out of the sand with a generously sized tablet mounted to the top. Simple power rods power each station. I can see them clearly, running up the front of each podium.