by Rena Marks
“No, you may enjoy it all,” he said to her, and she smiled back.
One of his hearts flipped in his chest. She could melt an army with that toothless grin. He used a rag to wipe her chin tenderly, and then deposited her up on the counter where she could finish eating as he washed her padding.
When he finished, he wrung it out and draped it over drying racks, then opened the window so the breeze could dry it faster. “You know, it would be much easier if you remembered to say potty before you make a mess, not after,” he reminded. Just in case she was of low intelligence, perhaps the constant reminders would stick.
“Trishan.”
“Tristan.” He emphasized the “T.”
“Trish’n.”
That one was even worse. He gave her a small drink of water, holding a towel under her chin for dribbles. He gathered her up because it was quicker than allowing her to walk and stuffed a rag into a small cloth bag he’d taken to wearing across one shoulder. His offspring tended to get dirty. A lot. That was what they’d become, their adoptees. It warmed them to refer to them as offspring. Each man had claimed one and there were just enough to go around. It was a sign that it was meant to be. Nineteen offspring for nineteen warriors.
“Let’s get to the ship. Perhaps we can get you a teacher.” He couldn’t imagine a teacher not wanting his adorable offspring. She may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but she was loveable and charming.
Perhaps he could also do away with washing padding if his poor unintelligent one could learn the basic needs of using a washroom.
He passed the males who were still trying unsuccessfully to teach the small ones to march. But he allowed the unfruitful exercise to continue, because those three were minding the entire bunch. The rest of his men were tending to the garden they’d planted. It was in an early phase, and they were applying supergrowth lights to it. They needed fresh food, and quickly. Being surface bound, breathing fresh air triggered an unholy appetite. They had another few days to go before the first vegetables would be ready. In the meantime, they were existing on replicated food from the ship.
She continued to gnaw on the protein bar as he made his way to the vessel. His commander, Bajoc, was inside, his male offspring climbing on his knee.
“What did they say?” Tristan snapped, as soon as he entered. The training council, with the master teacher program, would be perfect for their needs. It was a species they hadn’t yet encountered, but Tristan held hope they would be reasonable.
“No.”
“No?”
“No. They do not have a treaty in place for one of our kind and refuse to even refer us elsewhere.”
“Bastards.”
“Agreed. It’s why I hacked their system.”
With a push of a button, information rolled across the screen.
“There is a vessel picking up newly certified females for a new training assignment. We can obtain them, and no one will ever miss them.”
“How can you be sure?” He wasn’t above using dirty means to secure what they needed. It wouldn’t be the first time. But hell, he’d become a disgrace if they got caught.
“Because hacked emails show it’s a scam. The females have been carefully screened for family who may miss them. Many have nowhere to go. For that reason, they have been recruited to teach. With the way the males talk in these snippets of internal ship communications, they’re intending to lose the vessel and force the women to serve them instead.”
“Can the day get any luckier? Map out the coordinates. We’re going to intercept. Some of us will stay here to watch the offspring, some will kidnap the women and then blow the ship to smithereens. Since you’ve hacked in, I want you to destroy their computer and communication devices upon reaching them, so there is nothing for them to report.”
“Done. Any idea on who will be leading the ship to intercept?”
“Probably the strongest of the lot. Yourself included. All that remains here will be a few to mind the…” he pulled a sticky finger coated in wet protein bar out of his ear, “offspring.”
The face of his commander looked crestfallen.
“What is wrong?” he asked sharply.
“I find that I will miss this little guy.”
The little guy was chewing on his knee.
“Bad Reese,” Bajoc said absently.
Chapter Three
“Something isn’t right,” Marcie whispered. “Look at how they watch us.”
Sure enough, the crew of the Harbor stared as if they’d never seen women. One licked his dry lips, exposing dirty teeth, the color of which Lara couldn’t tell if it was yellow or orange. The one standing next to him had greasy hair and a funky unwashed odor whenever he walked by.
Raine shrugged. “I agree they’re unprofessional. Maybe there was a shortage of vessels and the Teacher’s Council sent a different passenger ship for us? Who knows?”
Lara leaned in. “Isabel asked them what section we’d be teaching at when we arrived, and they looked at each other and snickered. They never answered. I’m with Marcie, something isn’t right.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do,” Raine said. “But it’s not like no one knows where we’ve gone. The Council is expecting nineteen teachers. Someone will notice if we’re missing.”
“Wait a minute,” Lara said. “If I go missing, other than the Council, would anyone miss me? My parents are long dead. I don’t have siblings.”
This caught Raine’s attention. “I signed up when my aunt died. She was my last living relative. No one would miss me, either.”
That was too much of a coincidence.
“Okay,” Marcie said. “Why don’t we casually ask the other women? One by one. No sense in creating a panic.”
“I take it you don’t have anyone to notice your disappearance either?” Raine said drily.
A quick nod was the reply.
Lara tried to smooth out the frown lines on her forehead, aware of the ship’s crew watching. “Let’s keep this casual, ladies. Try never to be alone. Try to whisper, and make sure you’re never speaking where a camera may pick up on your mouth moving.”
“Lip reading.” Marcie nodded. She was probably the youngest of all the teachers who’d graduated at their academy. The most eager to fancy herself a spy.
The three of them made their way down to the dining room, where the other women usually congregated.
“Split up,” Marcie said. “And act casual.”
By the time Lara reached the end of one of the small tables, the blue-eyed blonde sitting there looked at her warily. “I’ve already heard,” she whispered.
“You, too?” Lara asked.
She nodded. “As far as I know, every single one of us.”
“We’ll go for the check in with the council in groups, notify them as to what’s going on.”
The blonde nodded, her face grim.
Just then, the doors opened and Isabel was escorted in. She had been pulled away by the captain earlier. She came directly to Lara’s table.
“We should arrive at the planet tomorrow, according to the captain,” Isabel said. “Later this afternoon, we’ll all be required to check in with the Council, and then it’s smooth sailing. We’ll check in again once we arrive on the planet and await our instructions.”
“It almost feels like they’re gonna pounce as soon as we make that last check in,” Lara murmured. “Maybe we should try to put it off?”
“How?” Isabel looked worried.
“Disband as soon as possible after dinner when they come for us. Maybe we’ll head for the exercise pool? I know it’s horrible for them to leer at us in our swimsuits, but at least being wet is a good excuse not to head to our rooms to check in. Once we do, I’d recommend not leaving the room.”
“I think we’re being paranoid,” Raine said.
“I disagree. I found something out.” Marcie’s voice was quiet. The other girls leaned in to listen to her. “We were supposed to be implanted with a translati
on device so we can communicate immediately. The planet we’re headed to is very diverse. That never happened. I have to believe that was on purpose. They’re saving the funds for the translation units, or planning on reselling them if they already have them.”
There was silence for a minute.
“Even if they were planning something nefarious,” Raine said. “What are we going to do about it?”
“Stick together. Take them on. There are nineteen women and twelve crew. We’ll defend to the death if necessary. I just mentioned to Merry here that we need to check in with groups of two. And notify the authorities.”
“Who lands the ship?”
“We’ll contact the association for help. We have one contact check-in left, right?” Lara countered. “The important thing is not to be split up. They’re getting more lascivious with their stares. I can’t help but think they’re feeling like they got away with something.”
“Wouldn’t it be awful if they sold us? If they were planning on telling the Council that we were lost in space?”
“That can’t happen,” Marcie decided finally. “They’d have to explain why they’re healthy but nineteen women are lost. So unless something happens on the planet…I really think they’re waiting for our final check-in. Maybe they’ll pretend we were lost in the Council’s jurisdiction. There will be a mess of red tape to get through. Who takes the blame? The receiving planet? The Council? Earth? In the meantime, no one rescues us.”
“And let’s face it,” Merry said. “We’re not a high priority. All of us have just graduated, we’re inexperienced, and we have no family to demand our safe return.”
The direness of the situation seemed to dawn on everyone at once.
“Shit,” Raine said. “That’s why they need us to make the final check in. Once that happens, we’re considered under safe jurisdiction. Anything can happen to us.”
Just then, the captain entered.
“Ladies,” he said magnanimously. “You’ve been huddled together long enough. I’m sure by now you figured out something isn’t quite right. No one has bothered to return to their room for the final check in, even though the communication lines were opened over an hour ago.”
There was silence at the table. Not one of them wanted to entertain the thought that the captain was in on the scheme.
“We haven’t had women is a very long time,” he grinned, showing a few missing teeth. He walked funny, too. He’d been in space far too long, and never bothered with supplements to prevent rickets. He didn’t even seem to care. “We decided you’re going to be our teachers.” The lunatic rubbed his crotch. “You will be separated, and will do your check in. Then everything will be just fine.”
“We didn’t agree to this,” Marcie said. Her voice was calm. “We demand to make contact with the Master Council Association of Earth.”
The captain’s face changed instantly. “We can make this hard, or we can make this harder. Your choice. Let me show you how it can be without your permission.”
With long, bony fingers, he reached out and grabbed Anita, the nearest to him. He yanked her up alongside his body. She screamed, and the rest of the women jumped up from the table, yanking her back. They scuffled with the captain, back and forth, Anita as the pawn, and suddenly there was a crash and the lights went off.
Emergency lights flared up, a dim yellow. Sirens began to sound. In the hallways, men began to scream.
“What the hell’s going on?” Someone yelled.
“First mate, report!” The captain yelled out.
Silence.
The doors suddenly opened. Big, hulking demons entered. They were massive, six and a half feet tall with ginormous horns that jutted proudly from their heads. They were various shades of silver. Instead of wearing furs and loincloths, they wore space uniforms.
The captain jumped up, screaming for his crew, reaching for his gun. But a giant, bulky brute with a scar across his face grabbed him by the neck, lifting the five-foot-something human easily. Of course, the captain was probably taller once—before the rickets set in.
But after snarling something, the captain’s neck was broken and he was flung to the side.
Then the larger-than-life, violent aliens turned to them.
With a squeal, the women banded together, jumping up. Marcie brandished a small steak knife she’d grabbed from the kitchen table.
The giant, silver demon who’d broken the captain’s neck reached out and…smacked the knife gently out of her fingers.
Gently.
Marcie blinked. “Huh?”
“Did he just tap that out of your hand?” Raine asked, her tone incredulous.
“Well, it didn’t hurt,” Marcie said.
Then the demons stepped in close, surrounding the women, and motioned for them to walk. Each room they walked through showed slain men, in various positions throughout the ship. The aliens practically preened.
“Holy shit, it looks like a slaughterhouse,” Lara said. Blood slimed from the walls in thick rivulets. She averted her eyes from the scene of the crime to the dancing aliens. So many of the other women did also.
“What do you think they want with us?” Anita asked.
“The council will come looking for us,” Marcie said. “No one ever checked in. Right?”
“Right,” the rest agreed. Though, no one looked assured, because hell, it had taken all of ten minutes to slaughter the much punier humans.
A small connecting bridge linked the two vessels together. The wall was bombed from their ship, a hole blasted into the wall. Torn metal pulled jaggedly from the wall. As soon as the group crossed it, the alien vessel raised the bridge and sealed for takeoff. Not knowing what to do, the group of teachers huddled together in the middle of the room.
“I think things went from bad to worse,” Raine whispered.
One of the giant brutes picked up something off the floor. Then he offered it to Anita.
“What’s that?” Lara asked her. It looked like an infant’s tiny nipple from a bottle. It was attached to a ring.
“Is that a pacifier?” Anita asked incredulously.
Around him, the other demon aliens snickered.
“I’m, uh—not sure,” Marcie said.
“Are they calling us babies?” Anita said. “Bastards.”
“They are bigger than us,” Raine said. “Much. Maybe we shouldn’t piss them off.”
“Yeah. If they want to call us names, let them,” Lara murmured, the walls bathed in blood still fresh in her mind’s eye.
But then, one of them roared. The sound reverberated off the metal walls, and several of the women covered their ears. The aliens hardly noticed, as one roar triggered another, then another. The one who was handing Anita the pacifier had it ripped from his hands by the first one who roared, and a scuffle ensued.
The rest of the alien crew cheered the two on. The men swiped, hitting each other with massive fists.
“They’re fighting,” Marcie yelled over the din. “What are they fighting over? This is crazy.”
A beep sounded over the intercom system, and just like that the fight was broken up. The women huddled even closer, eyes wide as they stared around the room.
One of the men picked himself up off the floor and casually headed over to a control panel. Another horned beast showed on the screen, but this time, his skin was black, not various shades of silver like the rest.
* * * * *
“Has the interception been completed?” Tristan roared.
“Yes, sir. No casualties, except for the crew of the other ship.” A couple guys snickered.
“The females are all intact?”
“Yes, sir. All nineteen are accounted for, and unharmed.”
“Nineteen,” Aello whispered, at Tristan’s side. “The magic number.”
In the viewing screen, Bajoc looked over his shoulder. Where he looked, Tristan could also see. Perhaps unharmed was stretching it a little. The small female creatures stood huddled together, eyes
too large for their pale faces as they stared in horror with pinched lips.
“Fool!” Tristan roared, even louder than before. “They are in shock. They are weaklings—emotional creatures of the female persuasion. You must make them feel welcome. Assure they are warm and safe. Feed them!”
Stars, could the idiots not see the females were tiny?
As expected, his men jumped to attention.
“Sorry, sir. We just rescued them not two minutes ago. We have not even destroyed the other vessel. We will tend to their needs immediately.”
“Get that ship blown up and get these women home to us,” Tristan warned. Morons probably thought to impress the women with mock brawls. Hell, they probably overkilled the transportation crew just to show off. Didn’t even think the females might be adverse to the sight of blood. With one finger, he cut off the communication.
“Rawrr!” Titi said, then took a bite from his chin. It didn’t hurt, of course. His offspring had the flimsiest excuse for teeth he’d ever seen. Even a butterfly had more teeth than the poor Titi.
“They are idiots sometimes,” Tristan confided in her. “Constant supervision. It’s why I was bred to be leader.” Casually, he flicked her drool from his uniform. “The good news is, little one, your new teacher will be here in a week’s time. She will find you irresistible, I’m sure.”
From across the room, Kamau muttered. “Perhaps we should keep that one in hiding until they are settled in and no longer in shock.”
Tristan pretended not to hear the traitorous words. If he acknowledged them, he’d be forced to lop off his head. And while Kamau got the best offspring of the lot, the little one would be lonely without him. She seemed to look up to his young one, Tomlak.
“Come, Titi,” Tristan said. “We have one week to get you and the other offspring trained fully as to not scare off the teachers. We will work non-stop. It will take dedication, courage, strength and determination.”
“Potty!” His offspring yelled.
Kamau’s jaw dropped.
Tristan lifted the tiny dropling, sniffing her bottom as he did so. No strange odors emitted.