by Maia Starr
A shadow interfered with its beam, and a man stepped forward. I couldn’t see him fully because of the backlight, but already I knew that he was different. I had met a Vellreq before, but they were gruff and intimidating looking, with grating voices and cold eyes.
This man was the opposite. His skin was a dark teal, and his eyes seemed expressive and kind. I was shocked by how handsome he was, and somehow knew without knowing that he was the kind man who made the announcements.
“Females of Earth,” he said, his beautiful voice washing over us in person for the first time. My heart thumped hard in my chest as he stepped inside the dark room. “We have arrived.”
***
“Order!”
The handsome Thressl’n man had disappeared from the doorway and had been replaced by a much shorter, more impatient man with a deep frown on his face.
“We will release you one by one, and I expect full compliance! When you feel your restraints loosen, stand up beside your bed and wait to be summoned.”
Now that the little room was filled with light, I scanned the area for any sign of my sister. But it was still too hard to make anybody out, and I sighed in frustration.
“Single file lines, please! Do not push or shove each other, females. There are consequences on Jenal’k for bad behavior.”
The thought of being punished on another planet was chilling. What kind of punishments would be inflicted on us by a race who thought abducting women against their will was all right? I had feared my freedom many times, thinking I might be jailed for putting my nose where it didn’t belong throughout the course of my career. But even the thought of spending the rest of my life in a foreign country’s prison system was nothing like this terror.
It seemed best just to do as they told us, and I almost cried in relief when the restraints around my arms were released and I could stand from the uncomfortable bed I had been bound to for the past few days.
“Everybody’s doing great!” the comforting voice boomed above the chaos. I could vaguely make him out; he was standing behind the little man, who was really enjoying the process of rounding up humans like cattle, a wry expression on his face as he watched the hectic scene unfold.
“That’s it, through the corridor here and down the ramp. We will accommodate you in the camps.”
Word of a camp brought all the women to muttering. What kind of camps? What was going to happen to us? How were they going to expect us to pay our debt to Thressl’n society after oh so valiantly rescuing us from ourselves? We owed them nothing! What was going to happen next?
“Silence! Did you not hear that there will be punishments for non-compliance?” the little man exclaimed.
“Peace, Jenar’d; the Earth females are frightened. As you would be in such a situation.”
The kindness in the man’s voice warmed me. It was nice to know that, if nothing else, there was somebody like this to look out for us. But I had to get a hold of myself. There was no good to come in developing a crush on a man from an alien race responsible for my abduction.
The little man looked glumly at the ground.
“Apologies, Commander Wyl’es.”
“It is forgiven,” the taller man said kindly. He then turned his attention back to us. “Now if I may have your attention, you will follow me through the corridor and onto the planet Jenal’k. Here, we will take account of all Earth females and assign you to camps, where further instructions await you. Your cooperation is both highly advised and appreciated.”
It was strange how fluent these beings were in our tongue. Thankfully, I didn’t have to use my broken translator at all. Still, the way they delivered the words didn’t seem quite right. Like there was something missing in their grasp of the language. It just didn’t sound quite…human.
The crowd of women was escorted off the ship by the Commander and Jenar’d, and although I was burning with curiosity about the conditions on the planet Jenal’k, once my feet left the ship, a wave of terror swept through me.
And I wasn’t the only one. I could tell by the faces of my fellow Earthlings that this was probably one of the most horrifying and surreal experiences of their lives, and we were all sharing it. I doubted the Thressl’n men understood just how high tensions were. They were strolling beside us, chatting lightly in their native tongue. I caught bits and pieces of the conversation; it was frightfully dull. They clearly weren’t great friends.
The handsome Commander caught me glancing at them as I eavesdropped, and the electricity crackled between us. His eyes were so unlike human eyes; the colors were all wrong. They were a metallic gray color, hard in a way, as if he had seen and done things I couldn’t imagine. It scared me a little. And yet, I couldn’t help but be thrilled by his gaze.
“I’m not going in there!” the first woman in line shrieked. The slow pace of the line came to a halt as more and more women began shouting their protests as we neared an imposing group of cloth buildings.
Before I could even register what was happening, chaos unfolded all around me.
“Order!” Jenar’d exclaimed.
But it was futile. The women were stampeding, running in all directions and shouting. Welcome signs had been posted outside the huge tents, and they were quickly on the ground, tattered and stomped on by all manners of women’s shoes.
I knew I probably should have been afraid, or angry and rioting alongside them, but all I really wished, more than anything in the world, was that I had my camera.
The thought was suddenly brushed away when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her.
“Sam!”
I whipped around and called her name again. We caught each other’s eye for a brief moment, and then once again, my twin was lost in the crowd and I was alone.
***
“You Earthlings are going to pay for the damages you caused!”
We were silent in our beds, all eyes on the Thressl’n woman who was marching down the rows of the dormitory-style layout of the first tent. Her skin was light blue, and her eyes were a hard metallic purple. She looked like she had never smiled a day in her life.
“You are going to be on extra work duty in the camp until you have learned your lesson. You may even be withheld from meeting eligible Thressl’n men. You’ll just be forced to live and work in the camps until you grow old and die!”
Her voice rose harshly, and we flinched. The idea of living in this cramped tent was less than appealing, though I don’t know why any of us would even want to meet eligible Thressl’n bachelors. The tents were huge and vast, but it still didn’t seem like a lot of room for a hundred women to coexist indefinitely.
Still, many of the women who had been with us initially had been separated from us. After the riot had been quelled by brute Thressl’n forces, several of us had been assigned to this camp, while others, after disappearing for hours and being searched for, were being returned to another camp further down the mountain upon discovery. Sam was in that camp.
Or she would be eventually, if she hadn’t been found yet. God, I hoped she was all right. I don’t know what I would do with myself on this strange planet if I didn’t have my sister with me.
“It may be acceptable to destroy property on your own planet, but you are guests here, and we expect you to behave with courtesy!”
The Thressl’n woman left the tent on that note and was replaced by a much smaller, softer-seeming woman. Still, just like all the other Thressl’n, the woman was densely muscled and looked as if she could break us in half if she had any inclination to do so.
She bowed deeply at us and fixed a comforting smile on her face. I liked her more than the first woman immediately.
“Meal times will be every three to five rotations, depending on the day. Some holidays require more meal services than others, and you will be treated with the same honors as everybody else. It has recently come to our attention that constant access to water may make your kind less volatile, and a fountain will be installed in just a few moments. Please
bear with the noise and try to get some rest. We have a long road ahead of us.”
She bowed deeply at us once again, and left us in the tent in silence.
Chapter 2
Chaz’z Wyl’es (Commander of the Fleet)
“Give me the status of the females,” I demanded into my communications device.
“We’re still missing one.”
“Just one?” I sighed. It would be difficult; the suns were beginning to set, leaving the planet in darkness. The Thressl’n had a unique handicap in the dark, as we primarily received our sustenance from the suns. Our eyes were good, but in the dark, if we weren’t wearing special glasses, then our field of vision would suffer. It made navigation in space difficult, but as Commander of the Fleet, I had been given a specialized surgery that improved my night vision.
“Just one.”
“Do you know what she looks like?” I asked.
“Human?” Jenar’d said incredulously. I glowered. Many of the Thressl’n liked to joke that all humans looked the same, but I had just discovered how untrue that could be.
My mind wandered back to the female I had locked eyes with during the march to the camps, and my hearts thudded. The fact was that I had never seen anybody so beautiful before. Thressl’n women had their own charm, it was true, but I had never wanted to settle down and mate with any of them.
I figured I was doing the world a favor, leaving more women to the more worthy men on my planet. The gender disparity that had been caused by the preference of Thressl’n males over the past few centuries had left our race in dire straits. Without more females, our species was going to be extinct over the next couple of generations.
It was lucky that Commander Zerk’k Arkti had come up with such a clever solution, and had called for the retrieval of several females from Earth. It served a dual purpose; it would protect the females from the looming threat of the Vellreq, and provide Jenal’k with genetically compatible material to ensure the survival of our species.
“Come out, female,” I pleaded quietly into the foliage. Of all places for a human to get lost in, the wild forests of Mount Zennith seemed to me to be the worst. I was already freezing cold, and there were many wild creatures living here that could be dangerous. If we lost a precious human female, it would be my fault.
A sudden shriek met my ears as I stumbled over something beneath my feet, and I caught myself before falling. Despite my surgery, my vision was still often impaired in the darkness. I glared down to see what had caused my imbalance.
My irritation melted away when I saw the same face as that of the human I had met eyes with earlier. Her hair was dark, black in the night, and her clear hazel eyes flashed with anger.
“Watch where you’re going!” she cried at me. “You could have broken my ankle!”
I backed away from her dubiously. “My apologies.”
The spark that had been there the first time I’d seen her was gone. Now, we were both surly and agitated.
“Come,” I said, lifting her by her elbow. She got to her feet unhappily, the sour look on her face deepening as I led her away from her resting place. “We have to get you to the camps.”
“I’m not going anywhere! Especially not with you!”
She struggled against me, but her efforts were futile. It was clear to both of us that I was the physically superior of the two of us.
I sighed.
“You have no choice in the matter. Come willingly, or I will force you to oblige.”
The human opened her mouth once again to protest, but ultimately allowed me to lead the way back to the camps where she belonged.
***
“Supreme Leader Aloitus is calling a meeting. You are expected to come immediately.”
I cringed at the terse voice of Captain Zod on the other end of my communications device.
“I understand; thank you.”
It took a moment before he released the button, making me anxious that he wasn’t going to let me go that easily. But the click finally came, and I sighed in relief. The truth was that I couldn’t stand Captain Zod. He had always been an arrogant, insufferable man. To make matters worse, he was also a social climber and had somehow wriggled his way into the heart of the Supreme Leader.
Despite our ranks being decided at birth, fate being one of the most highly revered concepts in Thressl’n society, Zod was hungry for power, and he got it by getting chummy with Aloitus. I knew I couldn’t be the only one who saw it.
“Chaz’z, how nice of you to join us!” Zod exclaimed when I walked through the doors of the meeting room in the palace.
“Captain,” I said, stressing his rank meaningfully. Zod glowered at me and sat down in his chair, casting a dark look at the Supreme Leader. Aloitus was too preoccupied to notice, however, and continued looking through the documents in front of him.
I took my place at the oval-shaped table, my eyes briefly scanning the room. The men who had piloted all five of the ships to Earth were in attendance. There was Commander Zerk’k Arkti, Captain Zod, General Rog L’ankast, the Air Marshal, Blayk’k Roso’u, and myself in attendance, with Supreme Leader Aloitus at the head of the table.
“Gentlemen, many thanks for your attendance today, and for your hard work in retrieving the females from Earth,” Supreme Leader Aloitus finally said, discarding the reports and pursing his lips in an attempt at a smile. The gesture didn’t suit him.
“Greetings, Supreme Leader Aloitus,” our small group chorused. Aloitus smiled now, more earnestly, though it still wasn’t much of an improvement.
“I understand we had a bit of a problem with the females last night,” Aloitus said, turning his dark eyes on me. My hearts thudded, but there was no reason for me to be afraid. I was the third most powerful man on the planet Jenal’k, whether Aloitus and Zod liked it or not.
“Yes,” I acknowledged. “The females were not as subdued as they appeared and attempted to flee.”
“That seems dangerous, does it not?” Aloitus said, by way of reprimanding me.
“Sir, with all due respect, I designed the camps with this possibility in mind,” General Rog L’ankast interjected. “It seems that human resistance would be an inevitability. It has nothing to do with Commander Wyl’es’ judgment.”
“Was it not Captain Zod who suggested keeping the human females drugged until their arrival to Earth?” Aloitus said sweetly. “Does it not appear that this suggestion was ultimately the one acted upon in the best interests of Thressl’n and human alike?”
“It was I,” Zod said quickly, fixing a smug look on me.
“Commander Wyl’es, you insisted on doing things your own way, and it nearly cost us human females.”
“Sir, as I said, it would not have cost any females. The camps were designed to—”
“Silence, Rog! Before I have you thrown in the holding chamber!”
Rog paled and sat back in his seat, casting an apologetic glance at me. I nodded, as imperceptibly as possible, in forgiveness. I appreciated Rog stepping in. It was clear he didn’t think highly of Supreme Leader Aloitus and his relationship with Captain Zod.
“The holding chamber seems more like Chaz’z’s place, if you ask me,” Zod said, grinning. He was loving the drama. Zod’s smug expression made me even angrier than being interrogated by Aloitus.
“I didn’t ask you, Zod,” Supreme Leader Aloitus said coldly. The smug smile fell from Zod’s face, and he grew quiet. It was nice to know that Aloitus still had some grasp of the real rank here.
“I apologize for my actions, Supreme Leader,” I said. “I saw to it that all the females were relocated and assigned to a higher security camp than their peers.”
My memory of the beautiful female I had literally stumbled upon invaded my memories again. There was something about her that spoke to the loneliness deep inside of me. I wanted to protect her. Maybe even to claim her. Still, it seemed strange to me that upon relocating her, all traces of our initial connection had gone.
“Tha
t’s all I needed to hear,” Aloitus said, his horrific attempt at a smile returning to his face. “Now I wanted to announce that I am still working on assigning females to Thressl’n men. Mostly nobility and a few men who were chosen in a lottery, to give homage to Fate, of course. What many of you may be wondering, especially after seeing these exotic little beauties for yourselves, is whether or not my elite fleet will be allowed to get their dirty little hands on these Earth females. Am I right?”
Aloitus grinned, and I felt sick to my stomach. Why did he have to word it in such a base way?
“I would like my female as soon as possible,” Zod said, without waiting to hear an answer. “When may I pick her up?”
Aloitus didn’t acknowledge him.
“I want each of you to pick the female of your choice. Of course, I know one or two of us who have already gotten the pick of the litter.”
Aloituz winked at Commander Arkti, who squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
“You can choose your females from any of the camps,” Aloitus continued. “And bring her to your homes immediately. The rest of the Thressl’n will have to be more patient and undergo the grueling process of learning how to woo their mates and get them in the mood to breed. Without breeding consent, we are the same as beasts. But I know I can trust the five of you.”
We were quiet for a moment as Aloitus cleared his throat and finally stood.
“You are dismissed.”
Zod shot through the doors, and I frowned. Something wasn’t right with that man. But I quickly forgot his strange actions as my thoughts returned to the female from the day before. A dull excitement began mounting in my breast. The way she had looked at me had replayed in my mind again and again as I attempted to sleep off the excitement the night before. If I had to choose a female, I might as well choose the one I couldn’t get out of my mind.
***
“Right this way,” a stern Thressl’n woman said, leading me deep into Camp 6. “Nobody has shown an interest in any of the females in this camp. They are all defiant. Why would you choose to have a defiant female as a mate?”