by Ruby Green
Janette glowered at him. “I don’t even know your name and you want me to shower in front of you?”
He let out a humorless laugh at this. “You humans give me such a headache. You know what, fine. My name is Lane.”
If Janette wasn’t so thrown about the, “you humans,” comment, she would have immediately commenced joking about his name. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He rolled his eyes, stepping inside of the shower if only to get the water running as he replied with, “I don’t know. Just that, you are human and I am not?”
Janette blinked as she slowly began to take her clothes off. The soiled oxford shirt, stockings and skirt pealed off of her, falling to the ground in an oily mess. She stepped into the shower and shut the door behind him, making sure to avoid making eye contact with him. The water felt heavenly against her skin. “You’re really going to have to start explaining things. Who are you?”
He flexed his jaw, stepping towards the shower just as Janette poured what seamed to be shower gel into her palm. It smelled like some combination of lemons and lavender. She spread it all over her body, not wasting any effort being frugal. “You are asking all of the wrong questions. By the time we get through all of them, it will be next year.”
Janette shrugged, “Well, since I’ve already been here for three months, I’m assuming you have plenty of time.” She replied.
“Quite the contrary.” He replied, fiddling with her dress. “In fact, we are landing in Igora in less than an hour, hence your makeover.”
“What?” Janette snapped. She dropped her shower gel onto the ground in front of her. “What is that?”
Lane raised an eyebrow. “Your new home.”
Aliens. “Nasa was right?” Janette hissed.
“What?” Lane snapped, looking up at her.
She just shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just struggling with the reality of all of this.” She replied. It wasn’t a lie…
He nodded slowly, stepping away from the dress. “Are you almost done.”
Janette scoffed. “I literally just got in here.”
Lane shrugged. “Well, we do not have much time.” He replied.
Janette rolled her eyes, but proceeded to rinse off the remaining soapsuds from her skin. Even from that hasty shower, she was already feeling much better. “So I’m human. You’re an alien, and we’re going to this planet names Igora?”
He nodded. “Good job. You listen.”
Janette sucked in a deep breath as she stepped out of the shower, slipping a towel off of a rack on a nearby wall and quickly wrapping herself with it. “Why are you doing this? Why are you kidnapping women?” she demanded, the horror slowly seeping in.
“That’s a complicated question.” Lane replied as he handed her a vile of what looked like lotion.
Janette snatched it from him, first placing it under her nose before she proceeded to rub it all over her body. She winced at the scent of vanilla, wondering at the culmination of smells Lane was creating. “But it’s the right one.” She replied.
He gave a curt nod. “Look. I do not have the time to explain this whole situation to you right now and quite frankly, I’m tired of having to repeat myself. So I will tell you just what you need to know.”
Janette glowered at him. “And what is that?”
“You are going to be sold as a wife to an eligible male suitor.”
Chapter Six
Janette stood in front of the mirror in that small room staring at her, now clean, body draped in that thin, skin tight dress. She had to admit that the lotions, oils, shower gels and shampoos had done her a world of good. After having dried her hair with this strange contraption that looked something like a straightener he fiddled with it, placing it this way and that. Only a couple minutes of that passed before Janette was fed up. She grabbed his hand, ignoring the strange sensation that reverberated through her bones. “I’m sorry, but what are you, some sort of dressing maid?” she retorted.
He cocked his head to one side. “As a matter of fact, yes. Yes I am.”
Janette scoffed, rolling her eyes. “If I am being sold as a sex slave-“ she started.
He wagged his finger at her. “A wife.” He corrected.
Janette could feel her eyes stinging with the promise of tears. The last thing she needed was some none-guy trying to diminish the gravity of the situation. As she stood there staring at her new self in the mirror, her body that would scream sex to some sort of terrestrial life form, undoubtedly with lots of whatever they call money and he would buy her. “Yeah, well it doesn’t make much of a difference does it?” she demanded. She averted her gaze from him. The prospect of him seeing her cry caused her physical pain. “I’m lawyer for God’s sake.”
Lane gulped. “I didn’t sign up for this.” He hissed.
Janette glared at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He shrugged, a pained expression on his face. “I’m sorry for your loss?” he murmured in a questioning voice.
Before Janette had anything even remotely suitable by way of a response to say back, he was already dragging her towards the door. “Look, we don’t have a lot of time. Just come with me.”
Out in the main room, she could see that all the other women had the same clothes on that she did. They were sitting in their open pods, the male dressers standing around them or patrolling. “We are reaching Igora’s atmosphere at the moment.” Lane explained as he sat her down and strapped her in.
“Where did this belt come from?” Janette demanded, wincing at the way it cut through her skin.
Lane shrugged. “If you would prefer being trapped in it again, I can do that as well.”
“Well, don’t you need a belt or something?” Janette demanded.
Lane rolled his eyes. “You humans and your inferior abilities. No. No I do not.”
Janette released a huff of breath and looked away from him, fixing her gaze on the front wall of her compartment. In that short moment that she sat there, devoid of conversation, she had time to wonder at her condition one last time. It had been four months since she had been awake, since she had been on earth, since she had been in a courtroom, had sex, and eaten food, gone to the movies, had a beer been at home. As ironic as it could possibly be, she found herself the victim of a kidnapping that she had been making fun of- …
And, just like that, she thought of Victoria. She winced at the image of her standing in her office at the station, all but banging her head against the wall trying to figure out how her best friend, her no-nonsense lawyer best friend, could have found herself the victim of a high-profile serial kidnapping.
It was something Janette herself was still wondering.
Lane leaned down towards her. “That’s it. We’re here.”
Janette flinched. “What do you mean? Already?” she demanded. There was no bump, no crash, not even a little disturbance.
Lane rolled his eyes as he unstrapped her. “I have only ever been on one of your air crafts once, and I will never do it again. Unlike you, we have mastered the art of flight.”
Janette shoved him away, preferring to stand up all on her own, then followed him out of the front of the compartment. As she walked through the front door of the compartment, she could hear muffled sniffling from the women around her, not to mention the sobbing coming somewhere from the back. She hated it, wished they would stop, wished she could gag them herself. The tears reminded her of just how dejected she actually felt, just how alone she really was, and, needless to say, she really, really didn’t want to think about it.
Soon enough, a light emanating from ahead alerted her that they had reached the door of the space ship. Janette could feel the air, fresh and crisp, hitting her face. It was the first contact she ever had with Igora. In all of her dejection, she could not deny the fact that it felt absolutely beautiful. It was like someone took all the best things about real natural air, put it in a container, and purified it even more. As she got closer and closer
to the door, she could feel the sun…. or a star… or something beating down on her. It warm and inviting… and confusing.
Janette found herself wanting to smile at all of this; at the fact that she was on an entirely different planet, at the fact that her skin feels like she had just gotten a chemical peal minus the pain, at the fact that the air felt like a million puppies to her wind-pipe and lungs. But the sniffling and the tears confused her, it reminded her that she was somewhere far, far away, and that she would never see anyone or anything she recognized ever again.
Once she stepped inside, she could not resist stopping. She swept her gaze around her, her eyes taking in everything from the ground, which looked like it was covered in dark green, almost blue grass, that tickled at her sandal-clad feet, to the sky which looked more like Monet’s interpretation of an earth sky, with it’s oranges and reds and yellows than an actual sky in and of herself. As she continued to walk, she squinted her eyes at the strong, yellow-orange hue coming from above. It was almost too much to handle.
The “men,” herded them towards what looked like aircrafts. As Janette followed the other women, she realized just how many of them their really were. Her jaw dropped at the sight of so many gold-dress clad humans walking towards the fleet. There had to had been at least hundreds, no, thousands. She glanced back at the space ship she had come. The fact that she could not capture the whole thing in her gaze, that it looked more like a small city than anything else, explained why she hardly felt the impact of the landing, and how they could possibly have crammed so many women in one space.
One look to her right told her that Lane was still walking beside her. “Aren’t you assigned to other women?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Technically.”
“So what’s keeping you here?” she demanded.
“I like you.” He replied.
Janette’s stomach lurched at this information as she reached the aircraft. One look inside told her that it was nothing more than a glorified airbus, with cushioned seats, a harsh air-conditioning system and seat belts. The women filed in, strapping themselves in with little to no coaxing from the men. As Janette looked around, she could see that some women had already made friends with each other, furiously talking to each other about this or that. She pursed her lips, realizing that it was possible for her to feel worse about herself, just as they took off.
Janette would have jumped at the opportunity of seeing some of the landscape through the windows of their aircraft as they flew, but she quickly realized with much disappointment that there were none. As they flew at ridiculous speeds through the air, Lane explained that it was some form of increasing aerodynamic abilities or whatever. Thirty minutes later, Janette could feel them losing altitude. Again, she could barely feel the landing, and, before she knew it, one of the men were opening a door. As soon as it flew up, she could hear what she could only describe as the bustling sounds of a city. There was the whooshing, of hovercrafts and aircrafts zooming around, that white noise composed of chatter between people, of life, there were horns and music and a very distinct voice coming from what sounded like an amphitheater.
When Janette finally stepped out of the craft, she was not at all surprised to find that they had landed in some sort of docking station. Directly in front of them was a massive stadium-type building. The exterior looked like some combination of stainless steel and gold and even from the outside, she could hear that they were filled with people, whose voice floated through the amazingly clear air. As they herded them through the narrow pavement that led to the entrance of the stadium, Janette caught stares out of the corner of her eye. She could see nothing but men from all around her wandering the streets, in their hover cars, standing around… and staring. She furrowed her brow, wondering whether she had something on her face, an awkward bruise on her arm… It didn’t take her too long to realize that they were staring at her because she was different. She was the alien.
She hardly had time to think about this before she was guided through a doorway that led to a long and narrow hallway. She had a sense that she was inside of the stadium, because she could feel the music, eclectic drumming and harsh voices, seeping through the walls. Her heart shook at the sound of feet stomping above head, and shouting, all male, slithering into her ears. Soon enough, the woman in front of her stopped, so she stopped, so the woman behind her stopped.
They were waiting in line for something.
Chapter Seven
Janette must have been standing in line for over an hour before she could see the light of day spilling out in front of her. The music was as loud and as impossible to bear as ever as she realized she could actually see into the field from her vantage point. What she saw was every seat in the stalls filled. There was a large platform on the field with bright lights trained on one spot in the center. There were strange hovering video cameras that fed the feed directly into massive monitors suspended above the crown. Janette’s stomach flipped as she got a good look at a woman standing in the spotlight, her head down and tears streaming down her cheeks. She held her arms down to her side… her naked side. On a different monitor was what looked like a price feed. It showed numbers increasing at an insane rate, before slowing to a stop. Eventually, the top number would light in red, and a cheer would erupt from the crowd. About five yards from the platform sat twelve rows of extremely comfortable-looking seats filled by men. In the center of the first row was an even bigger seat. In fact, it looked like it could almost be a thrown. The man who sat in it seemed to not move at all. His heavily lidded eyes were lined by what looked like black coal and his full lips were folded into a deep smug, one that Janette immediately wanted to slap off of his face.
As she was preoccupied with this obviously powerful man, she missed the girl being taken off the platform and led away by a man, who, no doubt had just bought her. As she watched this whole scene, inexplicably mesmerized by the man in the center chair, she saw a figure that she recognized. She narrowed her eyes, her heart fluttering in her chest at the mere prospect of knowing someone else here. There were, undoubtedly, many other women from her town who had been kidnapped, so it was possible…
Her jaw dropped when she stepped onto the platform, completely naked and a camera took a shot of her face and Janette got a good look of those big, almond eyes she only ever saw on Victoria. “Oh my God.” She whispered. Aside from being at least ten pounds thinner, she looked just like she had the last time she saw her at that bar. Seeing something so familiar in such a foreign place made Janette’s skin crawl.
The numbers went up for her, a shock shooting up Janette’s spine at the thought of her friend being auctioned off like an old painting. They flipped and flipped and flipped, then they peaked. She was led off of the platform to the man that had won the bed and the next girl was auctioned off.
This went on for so long that Janette began to lose herself. She became so engulfed her thoughts, so preoccupied with trying to figure out ways to find her again that she hardly realized that she was next.
Lane led her out onto the field, a long paved path, lined with heavy set males carrying what looked like weapons stopping just before the short set of steps that led to the platform. They were under cover there, completely invisibly to those in the stands, and those bidding in the seats on the field.
Lane turned to face her, his eyebrow raised as he gestured for her to take off her clothes.
Janette complied, wincing at the sensation of that cool draft on her breasts and in between her legs. She felt the panic set in once more as her vulnerability peaked, but she told herself to ignore it: ignore the discomfort, the fear, the pain. It was something she had told herself day in and day out in the courtroom, sorting through evidence, in the prison cells.
Ignore it.
“Don’t look them in the eye. They want submission. If you do that, you’ll get a good one.” Lane explained.
He thought he was being helpful, but just hearing him say those words made Janette want to sc
ream with fury.
They want submission.
Janette heard someone at the top of the stairs summon her so she went. On top of the platform, and under the blanket of all of those lights, it felt as if it were at least twenty degrees warmer. On top of the platform, the cheers and the stomping did not feel invasive or uncomfortable. In fact, she felt like she was being caressed by the white noise.
Don’t look them in the eye.
Janette found the one she was looking for. That male sitting centered. The one with the smug grin and fir-lined throne. She found him and she looked right into her coal-lined eyes.
She matched his grin.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see herself on the large screen, her eyes wide and intense as she stared directly into the crowd. Slowly, the noise began to dwindle, until she was standing in complete silence. She glowered at that male until he stood up.