by Roxie Ray
“What if… what if I’m having second thoughts?” I asked, as the elevator doors burst open.
The man glanced at me without sympathy as he stepped out into a broad room that veered off into large spacious corridors lined with a series of doors.
“No one’s forcing you to be here,” he said. “You can leave whenever you want, provided you’ve signed the NDA.”
“NDA?” I repeated.
“The one that states you will not divulge to anyone what you have witnessed here today,” he told me. “It would have been explained in the briefing.”
There had been a briefing? Obviously, that was where Madeline had been given the flier in the first place.
“Right, I forgot,” I said quickly.
He stopped outside a large oak door that was several sizes larger than all the other doors we had passed. He knocked once, and the door swung open to reveal a massive circular space with floor-to-ceiling windows. There was a small group of women sitting together in a corner.
“Go on,” the man said.
I was walking towards the group of women when I gasped with the realization that I recognized one of them.
“Vivien?”
“Oh my God, Rosa?”
She got to her feet and rushed towards me. I embraced her awkwardly, remembering the days I had talked her through the worst of her withdrawal.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
She looked taken aback by my tone. “Well, the same thing you’re doing here,” she said.
I looked at the women sitting behind Vivien. Most of them were young girls in their early to mid-twenties, but all of them were from the lower sectors.
“That’s not why I’m here,” I said, without offering an explanation.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“How I came to be here is not important right now,” I said dismissively. “Vivien, are you really here to enter into an arranged marriage with an alien?”
Vivien’s expression faltered. “I… well yes, I am.”
“But, I don’t understand, why?”
Vivien looked past me at someone across the room but I was too engrossed in her answer to care about who that might be.
“Vivien?”
Her eyes flashed back to mine. “There’s no future on Earth for me any more, Rosa,” she sighed. “But there may be a future for me out there…”
“With an alien?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes –
“Vivien,” I said, grabbing her by the shoulders. “What if this alien has three eyes or six tentacles or… or –
“They look a little different at first glance,” Vivien nodded. “But they’re not completely dissimilar to us either. Look.”
I followed her gaze and turned on the spot as my eyes found the towering alien who had just walked into the room from another brass-studded door to the right.
My body erupted with a heat I couldn’t name; despite my best effort, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Vivian was right, his body and face looked distinctly human. He stood at around seven feet tall, at least, with broad, imposing shoulders and a long torso. He was wearing a black leather vest that exposed his powerful arms, which were ripped with tendons of muscle.
He had the kind of face that movie stars would have killed for — a square jawline and a sharp, straight nose. His eyes were drawn down and hooded, and his hair was obsidian black, cropped short like a soldier’s. Those were the features that I could pick out as human.
His skin was a beautiful olive brown, but it was covered over by pale blue scales that snaked up his arms and neck but stayed clear of his face. When his eyes found mine, I felt as though a bolt of electricity had just flown through me.
The current passing over my body dulled to a low heat. It felt as though I was on fire. Who was this man? — No, not a man. He was an alien.
The pupils of his eyes were cat-like, with long, vertical slits in an unsettling ice blue. They were trained on me with a force that was so intense I felt as though I no longer had any control… over myself or anything else.
2
Quatix
The hum of thoughts buzzed through the room as I entered, a gentle thrum that I had grown accustomed to.
In order to hear an individual’s thoughts clearly, all I had to do was focus in on that person, and I could hear them clearly while everyone else’s internal chatter faded to a low mute.
I had been worried that the translator implant resting just underneath the skin of my right ear wouldn’t extend to my telepathic abilities, but it had worked like a charm so far.
I heard little snippets of thought float over me as the humans turned their attention to my entrance.
“… Those eyes… so unsettling…”
“… Monsters, the lot of them…”
“… Am I making a mistake…?”
“… Should I walk out now? I can still change my mind…”
“… Will the sex hurt…?”
I was vaguely amused by the thoughts being hurled at me, but I kept my expression blank and formidable as my eyes roved over the small group of humans in the room. The females were huddled together in one corner, and the men in charge of the so-called program stood a few feet away from them. They all wore the standard issue translator cuffs we had provided them with on arrival.
I turned my attention to the women, next, and I noticed a new female, one I had not seen before. She was shorter than average, about five-four, and her body was hidden behind a large, puffy coat in an offensively bright color.
I felt a gentle tug inside me, and the more I looked at her, the more that gentle tug gathered steam.
I focused in on her mind, trying desperately to hear her thoughts, but all I heard was silence. I could see her eyes racing up and down my body, filled with conflict and confusion, but her exact feelings remained a mystery to me. I wasn’t used to that.
It made me feel powerless, and I wasn’t used to feeling powerless.
I hadn’t planned on securing a mate for myself on this trip, but now that I’d seen her, I knew: It could only ever be her. I could tell from the insistent tug in my stomach, like there was an invisible steel rope that connected us together. It was pulling me forward, demanding that I close the distance so that I could be as close to her as possible.
She was my perfect mate. And now that I’d locked eyes on her, there would be no one else for me.
I watched her large blue eyes narrow as I approached her.
“Come with me,” I said.
She looked even more confused now, and I realized that she wasn’t wearing a translator cuff. She couldn’t understand a thing I was saying. I glanced over at one of the men who had been charged with watching over the women, and I gestured for him to come forward. He was a chalky-faced boy with hawk-like features.
“Yes, your grace,” he said, giving me an awkward bow.
“Find this female a translator cuff,” I said. “I wish to converse with her.”
“Uh, I don’t have access to the translator cuffs. I’m just a guard,” he said nervously.
I suppressed a sigh. “Then give her yours,” I said. “Now.”
He didn’t waste any time. He pulled off his cuff and handed it to the girl, who looked at it with distaste.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’ll help you understand the aliens when they speak,” the guard told her. He shoved it into her hands like he wanted to get rid of it. “Just take it.”
Left with no choice, she took the cuff, and the young guard rushed back to his post. The woman pushed back a stray lock of chestnut brown hair and glanced at me with uncertainty.
“Put it on,” I said.
She frowned, but inferred my meaning. I saw her glance back at the women sitting behind her before slipping on the cuff and fastening it around her wrist.
“Come with me,” I said commandingly.
Her eyes went wide when she realized she could understand
me now. That still didn’t take away the suspicion from her features.
“Why?” she demanded.
She was soft-spoken, but her tone contained strength and a certain stubbornness that I recognized in myself.
“Why?” I repeated, with contained amusement.
Then I reached out and grabbed her hand. Taking care not to hold her too hard, I pulled her across the room and into the private quarters that had been afforded my warriors and me.
We had just passed the threshold, the door slammed shut on the watching eyes of the rest of the room, when she struggled against my hold. Unwilling to hurt her, I let go, and she stumbled backwards.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
I raised my eyebrows. “I am choosing you,” I replied, slightly confused by her insulted demeanor.
“Choosing me?” she repeated, and then realization dawned on her face. “Hold on a second, let’s get one thing straight right now: I did not sign up for this program. I didn’t sign up to be anyone’s bride.”
“Then why are you here?” I asked.
She moved around me so that she wasn’t cornered between the door and me. The room we were standing in was large, with wall on one side and floor to ceiling windows on the other. There was also a large rectangular table and twelve uncomfortable-looking chairs in the center of the space.
“I came to see what was going on,” she said. “I wanted to know if it was true.”
“The program?” I asked. “Or the aliens?”
She paused. “Both,” she replied, meeting my gaze with unabashed candor.
She wasn’t here for the program. The revelation cut deep, and I thought about the prospect of leaving Earth without her. I felt discomfort stir inside me. Is this what my father had felt when he had chosen my mother? I never thought I would ever be able to understand his decision or the actions he had taken in the wake of that decision. But under the gaze of this woman’s startling blue eyes, my father’s mistakes felt almost… justified.
No, I told myself firmly. I would not be like him. I would not do to her what my father had done to his queen. Still, I wasn’t willing to give up on our union yet. I wouldn’t force her to mate with me, but I wasn’t above coercing her into agreeing to come with me, either.
“Maybe you should consider volunteering to join the program,” I said.
She looked at me in shocked silence.
“It will be the best decision you ever make,” I insisted.
“Is that so?” she asked, bristling slightly at my comment. “I highly doubt that.”
“You won’t even consider it?” I asked.
Her blue eyes were piqued with a deep and scientific curiosity. Again, I wished I could read her thoughts like all the other humans I had encountered. “I’m not going to just… give up my life here and fly off into space with a strange alien.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s insane,” she snapped. “Because… because I have a home here. I have a life here.”
A worrisome thought snuck into the forefront of my mind. “Do you have a mate already?” I asked. “A human mate?”
She clearly hadn’t been expecting that question. Her expression froze for a moment, and then ironed out into careful composure. I sensed an underlying vulnerability nestled underneath her iron independence.
“Uh… no, I don’t,” she replied, her expression clouding over. “It’s… it’s just me.”
“Then there’s nothing holding you back,” I pointed out.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I still have a job here,” she said. “My work is important to me. I can make a difference here — I can actually help people.”
“I’m not offering you anything less,” I said. “Your life on Svante would be a fulfilling one. You would have purpose and position.”
She opened her mouth to say something else, but the sound of approaching feet silenced her retort. A moment later the door flew open, and Terrox walked in with the human project leader at his back.
I saw her gaze fall on Terrox, and her eyes widened with disbelief. I had read enough humans’ minds to know exactly how most of them felt when they saw Terrox. He was almost as tall as I was, but his coloring was completely different. He had dark red hair that hung to his middle back and crimson eyes that emphasized his slit-like pupils. His scales were a pale orange-red that covered most of his body and ended just beneath his jaw. Vuks held the title of my most ruthless warrior, but it was Terrox that inspired terror in the humans.
“Ah… are we interrupting anything?” the human asked. He had told me his name numerous times but I always managed to forget it. He was an older male with thinning grey hair and tired eyes.
“Charles Cross!”
I turned and realized the woman was the one who had said his name. She was staring at him in shocked disbelief.
“Rosa…?” he gasped. It was obvious the two of them knew each other. “What are you doing here?”
“How could you do this?” she demanded, rounding on the man.
He looked taken aback as he eyed her with confusion. “How did you find out about this?”
“I found one of your fliers, and I followed the instructions here. You’re selling women… It’s — it’s human trafficking!”
“None of those women out there have been forced into signing up for this program,” Charles Cross replied, puffing out his chest with indignation. “You’re missing the point of this whole experiment.”
“Which is what?” Rosa demanded.
“We’re giving these women a chance at a better life —”
“Bullshit, Charles,” Rosa spat. “Do you really expect me to believe that the government isn’t getting anything in return?”
“Well…”
“What’s the trade off?” Rosa asked. “Money?”
“Precious metals and gems,” I answered.
She turned her gaze to me for a moment. Rosa… it was a beautiful name, and it suited her well.
“None of those women out there would be here at all if the government did their job and actually took care of them,” Rosa said.
“You shouldn’t be here at all, Rosa,” Charles Cross said, as his eyes darted between Terrox and me. “Let me walk you out —”
“No,” I said, stepping in. “I am not done talking to the female. Leave us.”
Terrox met my gaze for only a second. Then his crimson eyes flashed to Rosa and realization dawned on his face. He inclined his head in a gesture of congratulations, but it was tempered and uncertain.
Charles Cross hesitated. He looked extremely uncomfortable, and I focused in on his thoughts.
“… How did she get into the building in the first place… who do I call about this… she can’t out the program, if she reveals what she’s seen here then… we rely on our deal with the scaled monsters… what do…”
On and on it went, until I pulled out of his head from pure boredom. Humans had a penchant for worrying about unimportant things.
“Go,” I snarled.
His eyes went wide for a moment, and he nodded quickly like a nervous child before rushing out of the room. Terrox moved slowly to the door, his eyes ranging back to glance at Rosa for a moment.
“I will be just outside the door,” Terrox informed me.
I nodded.
Terrox bowed out of the room, and the door clicked shut. It was just the two of us again.
“Why don’t you sit down?” I suggested.
For a moment I thought she was going to refuse, but then she pulled out a chair and backed into it.
“Your planet is dying,” I said, meeting her gaze.
She flinched at my words. “You don’t know that.”
“I do,” I said. “Your sun is getting weaker… When it dies, your planet will freeze over, your plants and trees will perish, and your wildlife will die. I am told that experts among your kind are already aware of this.”
“I… some are, yes,” she nodded.
&
nbsp; “Then you know I am not lying to you.”
She sighed deeply. “Yes,” she said, in a tone of defeat.
“These women have the chance to flee this dying planet and make a life on a new one,” I continued. “Would you really deny them that?”
“Of course not, but —”
“What is it you object to, then?” I asked.
“Let’s put aside the fact that you are an alien,” she said, emphasizing the last word. “The idea of entering into a marriage with a stranger, it’s archaic,” she said, grappling with her words.
“It’s necessary,” I said.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I come from an ancient and proud race,” I explained. “However, the birth rate favors male genes. It used to be that every one in ten Svantian babies was a girl. Now it is every one in fifteen. The birth of a female Svantian is becoming rarer and rarer, and as King, I need to ensure the future of my race.”
“King?” Rosa gasped.
“Yes.”
“You’re a king?” she asked again, as though she wanted to make sure.
“I am.”
“You seem very young,” she said.
I smiled. “I have ruled for decades. Our people age differently than yours. But even among my people, I am considered young.”
“Oh…”
“So you see, I was not lying when I said you would find purpose in your life with me,” I told her. “You wouldn’t just be my wife — you would be my queen. You would be Queen of Svante, and you would rule by my side.”
Rosa stared at me. I saw the steady rise and fall of her chest, and it felt like my body had been awakened from a mummified slumber. Her eyes darted to the scales on my arms and the warrior’s vest I wore over my chest. I wasn’t sure if it was instinct or blind hope, but I thought I saw her soften.
“I… I…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t even know your name,” she said at last.
I had expected a different question. “King Quatix of Svante,” I said. “But you may call me Quatix.”
She looked at me through her eyelashes, and I felt a flash of desire course over my skin. My scales felt like live wires that might explode at a moment’s notice, and I wondered what it would feel like to touch her… to have her touch me.