by Ava Walsh
“Ready to do some business, Mereen?” he asked me. Behind him, I could see the glaring morning sunlight of the planet. Morning and night were words that had no meaning here. The planet sat between two suns. There was no night. The temperature ran from hot to hotter.
“Always,” I replied. Rob was my salesman. He sold my wares to men in the mines for fifty percent of the profit. It was a high markup, but it kept me safe and away from the more dangerous side of the business. It was too risky for me to deal with the miners. Rob was better at it, and he knew them. He knew their schedules and personalities; he knew who could be trusted. I handled the supply, Rob handled the demand.
Rob and I had done this countless times. He didn’t need to be told to close the flap and wait on the other side. Once the flap was closed all the way and I knew he couldn’t see, I reached into my rucksack at the foot of my thin mattress. Inside, sewn into the lining, was a secret compartment. Reaching in, I took out a handful of small bags filled with a clear liquid. Alcohol, concentrated and deadly, but easy to smuggle around the camp.
“Enter,” I called to Rob, and he opened the flap and came inside. He handed me a heavy clump of copper ore and I placed it on the scale. It was three pounds, exactly. “How do you always get the number so perfect?” I asked.
“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Rob said, grabbing the small capsules of alcohol and slipping them into the many hidden pockets of his vest. “Same time tomorrow?”
“I’ll be here,” I answered, and with a tip of a nonexistent cap, Rob left. I let out a deep breath and sat down on my bed again. Just that small act had taken the strength out of me.
There were no comforts in my Spartan quarters. This was a work camp; it wasn’t meant to be pleasant. My tent had a thin mattress on the floor, a bucket for waste and a jug for water. I kept the few personal items I owned in my rucksack, and carried it with me wherever I went.
Our settlement was in the northern half of the planet. Anything further south would have been too hot and inhospitable, though I knew the southern pole had a small tropical island. It was the one place on the planet that wasn’t a miserable desert.
We lived on a huge, wide, flat plane. Thousands of tents lined up in neat rows, each one with human men and women working and struggling to survive another day. There were children as well, though only those boys that would one day be suitable for work were allowed to live.
The klaxons outside changed their tone. Tent check. I stood up, my body crying out from exhaustion. I grabbed my shawl and brought it over my head to shield my skin from the bright sun.
Standing next to my tent, I nodded to my neighbors. To my left was the wife of a miner who had already left for work. Women were considered too weak and small to be functional in the mines, but there was still plenty of work for us to do. There was washing to be done, food to prepare and Goseb commanders to care for.
According to the ID chip implanted in my neck, I worked in the washing facility. I should be spending my days elbow deep in suds. But a bribe every week to the woman in charge of the laundry ensured that I got credit for work without ever actually washing a single thing. The laundry was where I made alcohol and I used to surplus income to stay alive.
The Goseb guards walked between the tents. They held a sensor in one hand and every time it passed over a human there was a quiet beep that meant the human was exactly where they were supposed to be.
The guard loomed over me. He was wearing armor that both protected and cooled him. His face was covered with an expressionless black mask, but I knew what was underneath. Goseb’s were oddly human-like in stature and size. The guard in front of me was only a few inches taller than I was. Underneath the armor his skin was green and his eyes a bright violet color. He would most likely have short hair and a body decorated with tattoos. Not that I would ever see him. The Gosebs only took their armor off when they were at home among family.
I kept my eyes downcast as the sensor moved over me. I heard the beep, and then the Goseb moved past me and onto the next human. On and on down the line he went. It would take them about half an hour to scan every human, and we had to wait outside of our tents until they were finished.
I glanced at the faces of the tired and broken down men and women around me. They all looked aged and stooped, though there was no human on the planet over the age of sixty. No one made eye contact with me. It was too dangerous to make friends. At any time, the Gosebs could kill any one of us. They could wipe the whole planet clear if they wanted to, set their bombs down on us and torch the entire planet. We only lived as long as we were useful to them.
The klaxons stopped and I went back inside of my tent. I pulled a small working table out from underneath my bed and began to chisel away at the copper. I chipped and cut it into small portions and measured them out. Some of it would be used to bribe the guards, some to buy additional food and vitamins. The rest I would add to my stash. I had managed to save quite a bit of my copper, but I would need all of it and then some once the baby was here.
Nausea came roaring through me again and I closed my eyes and waited for it to pass before continuing to separate the copper. Once my work was done I set the alarms on my tent: tin cans and spoons hanging on a line. If anyone tried to get in, the noise from the rattling metal would wake me up. I crawled back into bed and closed my eyes. The heat of Ex wafted over me. I closed my eyes and began to doze, slipping in and out of a light sleep.
Outside, I could hear people moving up and down the lanes between the tents. There were boys selling water and homemade sweets, and women selling themselves to men. What was going to happen to me here? It had been two months since Detro and I had been separated. I’d had no word from him at all. He could be anywhere. Maybe he was dead. Maybe he’d been re-educated by the Gosebs. What if he had found some other woman to keep him warm at night? What if he had forgotten about me? He didn’t know about the child. I hadn’t known about the child when we were separated. There was no way to get a message to him.
Think happy thoughts, my mother used to tell me that. Think about happy things and better times. She spent her days cooking and cleaning and doing other things for the Goseb army. Whenever I cried, she would tell me to think of something happy. That was her trick for getting through long days. So, remembering my sweet mother who had been taken so long ago, I thought back to happier times.
Chapter Two
I was twenty years old when I was informed that I would be going to X29 to be a servant to a Goseb Commander. I had no possessions; I owned nothing. I didn’t even really have any friends, just the fellow human prisoners. Some of them I got along with, some I didn’t. I don’t remember if I was happy or sad. I can barely remember my life before Detro. I didn’t have any dreams or hope. Back then I assumed that my life would be short, unpleasant and defined by work.
It seemed the prisoners that were to go to X29 were chosen at random. I stood, chained to the women in front of and behind me, and shuffled slowly through the Goseb garrison. Even though I was a prisoner, I had considered this place home.
Did I feel sad when I left? It’s hard to say. I remember realizing that I would never again see the little corner where I slept at night, the one place in the world I considered mine. I would never again get to see the dull red sun rise over the Goseb home world as I washed the cobblestone steps of the garrison.
My journey to X29 was my first trip into space. Single file, we were led into the cargo bay where rows of hard metal chairs waited. We were ordered to sit. Once I was down, a cold metal bar was strapped across my chest, trapping me in the seat. I remember looking around, hoping to see stars or the Goseb home world from space. But there were no windows in the cargo bay. I could only see the sad faces of the other humans. It was always hard to look at them, hard eyes, permanent frowns, a defeated air. I knew that I must look just the same.
I gasped as the acceleration of the ship pushed me back against the cold metal chair. My neck strained as the ship fought the plan
et’s gravity. For a moment I could neither breathe nor move and panic flooded through me. I had no idea if this was normal or if I was about to die. But then the pressure relented and I realized we had made it into space.
I could smell the gas first. We all could. We weren’t permitted to speak to each other, but murmurs echoed around the cargo bay. Some struggled against the bars of their chairs, but I knew it was futile. I let my head fall back and took a deep breath. I could taste the gas. My eyes grew heavy, warmth spread through my body and the next thing I knew I was waking up. My head pounded and my throat was dry. I would later learn that I had spent forty-nine hours unconscious on the ship. I heard voices around me as my fellow humans moaned and cried out. It was harder on the older ones. An elderly woman two seats down didn’t wake up at all.
The transport ship shuddered then reverberated and an announcement came over the speaker. We had docked with the garrison ship orbiting the mining planet of X29.
About twenty Goseb guards entered the rooms as the bars along our chair released us.
“Kneel,” said the commanding guard. There was no question, no argument from any of the humans. We were beyond expendable to the Gosebs. It was easier for them to kill us than negotiate and we were reminded of that every day.
I knelt on the ground as Goseb guards moved up and down the lines of waiting humans. A tingle went up and down my spine as the guard stood behind me. I closed my eyes and there was a loud buzzing noise followed by a painful burning sensation on the back of my neck. I bit down a gasp, but it was over quickly. A quick sting. It was a tracking device linked to the ship. Anywhere I went, they would know. Anything I did, they would know.
“Mereen Silver.” My name was called out in a list with about fifteen others. Rising to my feet, I kept my head down and fell in line where I was told.
A Goseb soldier led us down the hallway, giving out instructions as we hurried along. His voice wasn’t muffled by his black mask, it came out clear and commanding. “Grand Commander Detro Mirol has been given the great honor of overseeing mining efforts on X29. You will work as part of his personal retinue and see that all of his needs and desires are met.”
Detro had his own private living quarters on the ship. A large kitchen, sitting rooms, bedrooms and his own personal human staff to go along with it. We arrived in the brand new kitchen and changed into gray jumpsuits. We knelt on the floor waiting for our new orders to be given.
Detro Mirol was a grand commander, and his steward was a Goseb soldier on the rise named Troslo. He stomped into the kitchen and looked over the humans kneeling before him. He took his time walking up and down our ranks. Sometimes he would touch our hair or shoulders. I knew other Gosebs like this, and humans as well. He had tasted power and liked it. He wanted more.
He stopped before me and tilted my chin up to meet his.
“Mereen Silver,” he said, reading off a display. “No marks or charges against you. That’s impressive. Stand.”
I did as I was told, aware that every eye in the room was on me.
“Grand Commander Detro Mirol is a well-disciplined leader. You will meet his schedule or you will be reassigned.” I nodded. “He likes his basda the moment he wakes, which is after exactly seven hours of sleep, no more, no less. Half an hour after delivering the basda you will deliver his breakfast. He eats lunch six hours after breakfast and dinner six hours after that. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“You will deliver his meals to him and help him dress for the day. You,” he pointed to an older human woman next to me, “Sierra, you will be the head cook for the Grand Commander. If he is displeased with his food, or it does not arrive when he wishes it, you two will be the ones to suffer the consequences.”
Sierra and I glanced at each other and nodded at the guard. We were thrown right into the work. According to the very exact schedule, Detro was expecting his coffee within the half hour. Still tired from the drugs, with a headache that refused to relent, I was given instructions on how to reach Detro’s quarters and the precise way I was to knock on his door.
There was an elaborate cart and I carefully loaded a set of ornate Goseb drinking glasses and a large pitcher of basda, which is a warm, caffeinated drink favored by the Gosebs. I made sure to wipe my fingerprints off the perfectly blown glass cups, and carefully lined each cup up in a neat row.
The door opened automatically for me. The sensor in my neck would allow me access to certain places on the ship. I took a tentative step into the gunmetal-gray hallway and then took another. The long hallway was empty, and even though I was doing what I had been ordered to I still felt like I was about to get in trouble at any minute. It was always dangerous to be a lone human on a Goseb ship. I kept glancing behind me and around me, looking for a place to hide should trouble come.
The gravity on the ship was lighter than the Goseb home world and it felt a little like I was floating when I walked. I stopped short when I came across a window and looked out into inky blackness spotted with stars. Space. I was in space at that exact moment. I stepped away from the car to get a better look out of the window and I saw the world of X29 below me. It was like an orange, spinning ball, massive and breathtaking.
As instructed, I pushed the communication panel once. Almost immediately the door opened and, taking a deep breath, I entered the softly lit chamber. It was decorated like a traditional Goseb home. There were plush carpets on the floor and elaborately decorated tapestries hanging from the wall. There was even a fireplace along one wall, though it was non-working. Fire on a ship made little sense. Instead, it projected heat and the image and sound of a crackling fire.
It was lit now, casting a soft orange light and a warm heat through the room. There was a large bed against one wall and a massive desk against the other. I glanced at the desk and saw the black, featureless mask worn by Gosebs and the matching dark armor. Detro wasn’t dressed yet.
I kept my eyes down. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed or think me impudent. I didn’t see him in the room, so I left the cart near the desk and then turned to leave.
“Stop,” I heard a stern voice say, and a shiver ran up and down my back as I stopped an arm's reach from the door.
Chapter Three
I could hear him moving around behind me and I wasn’t sure what to do. If I turned around without permission, I could be punished. If I kept my back turned to him, he could consider it rude and I would be punished. He was a new entity. I needed to learn his ways and mannerisms if I was going to survive on the ship.
“Relax, you are in no trouble,” he said. But I didn’t know how to relax in front of a Goseb commander. Was this some sort of trick? Or did he want something else from me? Slowly, I turned to face him. I let my eyes flick to his face for just a moment, but it was enough. He was standing near the door to his personal washroom. He was wearing nothing but a robe hanging loosely over his strong form and staring at a small display held in his left hand.
His skin was a deep green color, and his violet eyes seemed to shine in the dimly lit room. He had short, dark hair and thin lips with a long nose. His open robe revealed a strong chest.
“What is your name?” he asked me. His voice was soothing. He wasn’t yelling at me or interrogating me, just asking a question.
“Mereen Silver, sir,” I answered.
“You were last stationed on the Goseb home world, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How I miss my home,” he said, dropping the display to his side. “The red sun, the vibrant jungle, the green ocean. I long for home. I have not been there in many years.” He stopped and looked at me as if expecting me to say something.
“It is a lovely planet, sir,” I replied.
A long silence fell between us as he looked at me with a bemused expression. “Have you ever seen Earth?” He asked.
“No,” I answered quietly. “I was born and raised at the garrison.”
He nodded and, with a wave of his hand,
two panels slid aside, revealing a huge window and the planet below. “It’s a shame we couldn’t find a planet more similar to Earth. But X29 was just too rich in ore for us to pass up. They say it is unpleasant for the humans who live there. I hoped you could tell me if it felt familiar, but since you’ve never been to Earth...” He shrugged and pointed to the tray of basda. “Pour me a glass,” he commanded, and with a nod I did as I was told.
Detro turned and stared out of the window as I struggled to keep my hand from shaking. He heard the glass clinking from my nervous hand, and turned around and watched as I put the delicate pitcher down. He moved towards me. He was taller than I and he crossed the room in a few steps.
I was frozen in place. There was nothing I could do. There was no fight I could give. I closed my eyes and thought back to happier times. I felt his warm hand on my chin, and he tilted my head up to give him a better look.
“Open your eyes,” he commanded. I did as I was told, looking into his purple eyes. “They’re lovely,” he said. “I was told that brown eyes were the most common color for humans, but I am still struck by them whenever I see them.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. My heart was pounding in my chest. I was standing only inches from a high commander. I could feel his warmth; I could smell the peppery soap he used. He inched closer and tilted his head. We were only inches apart. His bright eyes were still staring into mine. I swallowed heavily. He blinked, and whatever spell had been cast over us passed. He let go of my chin and took a step back.
“Troslo has told you of my schedule?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“See that you stick to it and no harm will come to you. I reward good work, but I do not hesitate to punish laziness.”
“Thank you, sir,” I replied. He waved his hand and I was given permission to leave.
I couldn’t stop shaking. I didn’t know what it meant when he looked into my eyes. What did he want from me? It wasn’t impossible to guess. It was common knowledge that some Goseb men preferred human women. But I didn’t know if Detro was one of them. I could do something with this information. I had heard stories of women who used their bodies to get what they wanted. Women who manipulated both human and Goseb men.