Sarah pressed on. "Isn’t taking us off that ship a violation of the peace treaty?"
The couple exchanged a look. "Well, actually no." Symon told her. "The Gaian-Earth peace treaty states that for one year we can stop ships carrying items that we have a particular interest in."
Now the lawyer broke in. "But The Dove has no cargo to speak of--just passengers and our belongings."
"It was the passengers The Dove carried that we were interested in," Symon told her.
Bethan added, "Sarah, you and the other ladies are here because we need women like you. You told us you were on your way to a new life. We say you still are. We just want you to consider making that life on Gaia."
Well that explained the gifts and how friendly everyone was. The Gaians wanted willing wives. "Living with you? How so?"
"You are women who want husbands. We have men who want wives. We want you to marry our men."
These Gaians expected Earth women to marry their former enemies? Sarah spoke out. "How can you expect us to do that? Our planets just finished fighting."
Bethan folded her hands and spoke reassuringly. "The point is that we did finish fighting. It’s time for Gaia and Earth to mend its relationship and to rebuild. We need women to mend our differences and that’s why we want you, enough to stop your ship and take you off of it."
Laura broke in. "Why do you need women so badly? From what I’ve heard, Gaia is an established planet with limited immigration. With a normal birthrate, there should be almost as many women as men."
Symon and Bethan looked at each other. Sarah got the impression that the answer to this question was something very serious and personal to them.
It was Symon who answered. "During the war, Carras, one of our girls schools was destroyed. It happened on the first strike Earth made at us. We lost many thousands of girls, adult women, and the young children who were living there."
"Because of losing Carras," Bethan added, "we have many young men who will not find wives unless we can replace those women. If we don’t then they must remain single, and that is not a good thing for our society."
One of the other women snickered. "I know a lot of guys on Earth that wouldn’t mind that situation. The reason I left was to find someone who wanted to get married."
Symon leaned forward and looked at her. "How do you think those ‘guys’ would feel about being single, if they weren’t able to make love? Ever."
Startled, the woman stared at him as Symon sat back and smiled ruefully. "Gaians can’t have sex unless they are married."
"Why not?" Sarah asked.
"Because, our men don’t acquire a sex drive until we meet a woman, a special woman. For each man, that woman is different."
He looked at Bethan, his face tender. "When I met Bethan, she became the only woman I would, or could, make love with. All Gaian men are like that. We pick a woman and she becomes our wife. And until we take a wife, we can’t make love with anyone."
Bethan returned her husband’s adoring gaze and turned to the fascinated Earth women. "When a Gaian man meets his mate, his sex drive wakes up. We call it ‘attachment’. Attachment can happen when our young men and women are just past puberty, so we keep them separate, from early puberty to young adulthood, about twenty years of age."
"You keep your teenagers apart?" Laura asked.
"Yes. We have boarding schools where they go. Otherwise, our children don’t have enough time to grow up before they marry and start having children of their own."
Laura and Sarah exchanged knowing looks. Both had seen enough teen pregnancies to understand the reasoning behind this. On a planet where mating for life was a reality, preventing it for as long as possible made good sense.
"So, when Carras was destroyed…." Sarah prompted.
"When we lost Carras, the future for a lot of our young men was jeopardized."
The lawyer raised her hand. Sarah thought she looked like she was addressing a witness at a trial. "So your plan is, collect us from The Dove and have us marry your extra men. But why would we want that?"
Bethan shrugged. "Why not? Our men are worthy. They will care for you, as well as any Earth man could, probably better. I certainly have no complaints." She turned to Symon, and placed the back of her hand on his cheek. He smiled at her and returned the gesture.
Around Sarah, the Earth women huddled in quiet discussion. From what she could hear of their conversation they seemed to be noting that they hadn’t met the men on the Outer Colonies and the men here certainly had appeal and looked like they’d make good husbands.
"Besides," Bethan continued, "You were on your way to an outskirts planet where the best you could expect was basic medical, living, and educational facilities. We can offer the finest of everything to our new wives. You will have well-furnished hospitals to give birth in, good schools to educate your children. A future with everything you could ask for. Our men are well educated, have skills, and excellent futures ahead of them. They will be able to provide well for their wives."
Symon chimed in. "All we ask is that you attend a marriage meet and look for a husband from among our men. If you don’t find one, or if you are not happy with him, you can always say no, and continue on to your original destination."
One of the other women interrupted. "When will we meet these men of yours? From what I can see, these aren’t very interested in us."
Sarah glanced around. It was true. The guards in the room were actually paying very little attention to them. If these were men without women, then it didn’t show.
"All of these are married men. See the wrist bands?" Symon held up his arm and showed them the bracelet-type band he wore and as they looked around they noticed all the other Gaians, men and women both, wore similar bands.
"We wouldn’t let the others anywhere near you until you agree to attend a marriage meet." Bethan answered. "Believe me, when you meet our unmarried men, you will have no trouble getting their attention. Well," she added with a grin. "You’ll have no trouble getting one of them to pay attention to you."
Flushed, the lawyer spoke again, her mouth a grim line. "You have us on your ship, and I don’t see how we can return to our planet without your help. I guess you can do with us as you will."
Again Sarah noticed the way Symon and Bethan looked at each other, almost as if they read each other’s thoughts. He spoke quietly. "We won’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. At worse, this will be a slight detour in your plans. If you choose not to participate in our marriage meet, then we will simply return you to Earth or to one of the Outer Colonies, whichever you prefer."
"We believe that our men will make you better husbands than what you could find anywhere else in the universe." Bethan added. "If we aren’t able to convince you of that, then we promise you will be free to go."
* * * *
All over the ship, men watched view-screens. Imagers in the main ballroom caught the faces of the women as they listened, their expressions ones of dismay, concern, then curiosity and interest as they were told why they’d been taken from their ship. The imagers were supposed to have been disabled, on orders from Chief Bethan, but one of the more enterprising crewmembers had undone that work.
These were their women. Possibly soon, two hundred fifty of them would have wives, a future. They weren’t going to let a little order get in the way of having a glimpse of what awaited them.
The men were thrilled by that glimpse. Lovely ladies, all, even disheveled as they’d been on their arrival. Most envied the married guards who got to stand among them, despite knowing those men would have no real interest in these ladies. After all, they were already married, with their own women.
Young men stared at the faces, listened to the soft feminine voices that came through the speakers. Soon they’d get the chance to meet them, hopefully attach to them. Soon they would have women of their own, like their married brethren, the fulfillment of the promise made when they’d volunteered for duty in Gaia’s military
.
In a separate room, Garran watched alone, but he didn’t scan the women, examining each face as the others did--he was only interested in one. He carefully focused the viewer and froze it, filling the screen with her image.
He caught his breath at the sight. Beautiful. That was the only word possible. He had to admit Sarah was beautiful. Dressed in Gaian clothes, she appeared to be everything he could want. Beautiful, proud, intelligent. Worthy. Only her hair gave away her Earth origin. No one on Gaia had red hair.
Well, no one used to. Maybe now.… Garran suddenly envisioned a small child with hair the color of…of what? What color was her hair, what could he compare it to? Redtrees were too dark. Her hair had highlights of gold mixed in. It reminded him of the leaves when the first cold hit, how they turned color. It would take a forest of such trees to match her hair.
Her eyes were less of a problem. They were green, the color of jade. But not the same: Her eyes weren’t cold like stone, they were warm, alive. What living thing matched her eyes? Moss--that was it. At Crescent Lake, the moss along the edge was just that color, and alive as well. He could spend the rest of his life gazing into those eyes.
Skin like…nothing he could imagine. It was as if it had never seen the sun, pale to almost transparent. She was nearly as light-skinned as he was, though his pallor was from staying in space for so long. It had been too long since he’d been home. He’d have to remedy that, have her walk outside with him, and give her face some color. But it looked so smooth. What would it be like to touch it?
Perhaps, soon, he would be allowed to see for himself.
Chapter Four
An hour later, the big doors opened and guards led the Earth women down long empty corridors to individual cabins. They met no one on the way, no random groups of Gaian men idling in the corridors as they might have expected to find on an Earth ship. On The Dove, it had been hard to move around without running into a member of the crew, usually leering or making comments about sex-starved females. In addition to the Gaians being more polite, Sarah decided they really were being kept isolated from contact with their future husbands.
When she reached her cabin it was larger than she’d expected and much nicer than the one she’d had on The Dove.
The cabin had a double bed, the bedding fresh and sweet smelling, a media panel with a slot for her datastore, and a comfortable chair with a reading lamp, perfect for relaxing in. The plush floor covering looked new, as did the bedding.
The private sanitary off the bedroom held a bathtub as well as a shower. When she tried the taps, water gushed forth, unlike the dry sonic cleansing that had been available on The Dove. For a moment she eyed the tub, and imagined how delightful a bath would feel after weeks of being in space. Compared to her cramped cabin on The Dove, this seemed like heaven.
She turned to Bethan, who still dogged her heels. "It’s beautiful."
"I’m glad you like it. We want you to be comfortable here."
Laughing, Sarah sat on the cushioned chair. "I half-expected to get hauled off to a cell, before. I hardly expected anything as nice as this."
Bethan’s eyebrows rose quizzically. "A cell? Why?"
"For striking the General." Sarah’s smile faded. "I don’t know what came over me--I’ve never done anything like that before. I suppose I should apologize to him." She glanced up at Bethan’s face. "He wasn’t hurt, was he?"
"I heard it was a slap--how could that have hurt him?"
"It must have been harder than that. My hand still tingles." Ruefully Sarah held up her injured palm.
Bethan’s eyes brightened, though her smile stayed the same. "I doubt you will see him for some time. I’ll tell him you’re sorry, if you like."
Sarah nodded her thanks, then continued to examine her surroundings. The view-screen on the media panel showed a beautiful landscape of mountains, trees, and a distant lake with a distinctive curve to its shoreline.
Bethan noticed the direction of her gaze. "That’s Crescent Lake, outside our main city. My sister had a home near there." She saddened at the mention of her sister, then the fleeting regret was gone. "I hope you get to see it someday, it’s a beautiful place. If you would like to see other places on Gaia, just browse using the terminal." She pointed to the keyboard sitting on the desk. "And as you can see, your luggage has followed you."
Sure enough, Sarah’s trunk and other things were arranged in a neat stack in the corner of the cabin.
"I’ll leave you to get settled," Bethan said. "When it is time for lunch, there will be a general call from the comm-link. Oh, and one more thing." Bethan sobered for a moment. "We need to ask you and all of the other ladies not to wander about on the ship. It is very important that we keep the men and women separate until the time comes. If you could wait in your cabin until called, we would appreciate it."
No matter how politely put, being asked to stay in her room did not go over well. Her temper flared. "Maybe I spoke too soon about this not being a cell. You mean we’re prisoners here?"
"No, not really." Bethan hesitated. "You must understand how our culture works. A married woman or man can go anywhere, but unmarried individuals must keep away from each other until the meetings can be arranged. I understand how different this is for you, but so few people on Gaia are unmarried once they reach adulthood, it’s rarely a problem." She paused on her way out the door. "Please be patient."
After Bethan left, it only took a few minutes for Sarah to organize her belongings in the large cabin. She hadn’t really unpacked on The Dove, what with the limited storage in the tiny space she’d had on that ship. There was far more room here, so she took advantage of it and hung most of her clothes, and moved her toiletry items into the sanitary, including the new ones the Gaians had given her. The brush in particular was much nicer than her old one.
Once in the sanitary, she again eyed the tub. With the early start to the day, not to mention everything else that had happened, a relaxing bath suddenly seemed like a very good idea. She found a nice collection of bubble makings on the shelf above the sink and indulged in one with a sweet, floral scent.
Undoing her long braid, she finger-combed her hair before stepping into the tub and submersing the deep-red mass in the water in preparation for washing it. It seemed longer than a few weeks since she’d been able to get her hair completely clean. A bottle of shampoo was included in the toiletries and it carried the smell of green, growing things. Sarah thrilled at how sensuous it made her hair feel.
Being on The Promise was turning out to be a lot better than The Dove. Sarah dipped below the water and let her cares float away into the warm water.
After her luxurious soak and using the instant dryer on her hair and skin, Sarah pulled her robe on and wandered back into her room. When she laid on it, she found the bed was even more comfortable than it looked, and within minutes she fell sound asleep.
* * * *
In Garran’s quarters, the door buzzed. With an impatient gesture, he activated the entry.
Symon stood in the doorway, looking cross. "You didn’t check to see who it was. I could have been anyone."
Garran dismissed his concern. "Why should ‘anyone’ want to hurt me? The only one who’s ever threatened me is locked in her part of the ship. They all are, for that matter."
Symon entered, and gestured a couple of much bigger men inside. Each seemed the size of a small mountain, the blond one banded, the brown-haired man not. "Maxxa, Sammul," he said, pointing to them in turn. "They‘re going to keep an eye on you from now on."
"Bodyguards?" Garran was incredulous. "Protecting me from what--a bunch of women?"
"We’ve heard rumors, Garran, from our people on Earth. It isn’t clear what, but there’s a threat to your safety. You are too valuable to us and too good a target to ignore them." Symon grimaced. "There are those in Earthforce who would love to see you dead."
He noticed Sarah’s image on the view-screen and grinned. "I see you’ve been busy. How did you get that?"
Garran grunted, unwilling to admit his fascination with the red-haired Earth woman. "From this morning, before you deactivated them. Bethan gave her some javi." He glanced at the sensuous smile. "She liked it."
"She smiled like that over a cup of javi?" Symon laughed. "Imagine if you really gave her something to smile about."
Yes, imagine. The idea of Sarah’s face in true ecstasy sent his senses temporarily reeling. Ruthlessly, Garran censored that thought. It was far too unlikely to ever happen.
Another buzz at the door and this time, one of the bodyguards, the blond one, Maxxa, answered it.
"Garran!" Bethan bounded into the room, nodded approvingly at the hulking man holding the door. "I see you found someone for the job, Symon. Good work." She returned her attention to Garran, her face one giant grin. "So, ‘immune,’ huh? Has the doctor been by?"
He nodded ruefully. "You missed him by an hour. He refused to give me the antidote. Said it would be better to let it end naturally."
The couple exchanged startled glances. "Garran, what are you talking about?" Bethan asked. She noticed the still present image of Sarah on the view-screen.
His gaze followed hers, and he felt his body tighten again at the euphoric smile. Determinedly he turned his back on the image. "This will never work. Better to end it than put us both through a matching that’s doomed."
"And what makes you say that it’s doomed? Her hand tingles."
Not possible. "She’s Earthen," he said, incredulous.
Bethan shrugged. "Perhaps. Maybe it was just from the slap. But that doesn’t explain the near fainting spell she had after you left. I saw that on the playback."
Really impossible. "No, I don’t believe it."
"Don’t believe it then. Let her walk to someone else if you like. She’s a strong potential, and if you aren’t there, another man is bound to attach to her."
No. Reluctantly he stared at Sarah’s frozen face, the suggestion of passion in her smile over no more than a cup of javi.
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