by Sophie Stern
“But you aren’t tiny,” I point out the obvious, but Elf just chuckles.
“Oh, honey,” he kisses my forehead. “That’s the point.” He turns back to Tank. “This one’s going to be fun.”
The men stand on either side of me and lead me toward the ship. This is it, I realize. It’s happening. Glancing back behind me, I mentally wave goodbye to the boulders, the dying trees, the dust, the dirt. I can’t see the town from here anymore. I can’t see anything. Night has fallen on Earth and day will not be coming.
“Come on, darling,” Tank whispers. His touch is gentle as he places his hand on my lower back and pushes me forward. He means to guide me, not seduce me, and I can tell the difference. “You said it yourself. There’s nothing here for you anymore.”
One deep breath.
I take one deep and keep moving forward. We approach the plank that rises up into the ship and carefully walk up it. It’s wide enough for all of us to move side-by-side, so we make our way up the incline.
Soon we’re inside the Taneyemm ship.
I’m actually, really, truly inside a Taneyemm ship.
I blink several times to get used to how bright it is. Everything is painfully light. Tank grabs a pair of dark glasses from the wall. I notice there are dozens of pairs all hanging by the entrance. He places them on my head.
“This will help you get used to the light,” he says. “Taneyemm is much brighter than Earth. By the time we get there, you’ll be used to the brightness and the world won’t seem so harsh.”
“Thank you, Mr. Tank.” I try to be polite. These men control my fate and the truth is, even if the planet I’m going to completely sucks, it can’t be worse than Earth. I won’t forget that they didn’t have to take me, but they did. This is much better than having to sneak onto the ship, than having to hide around in the cargo hold and scavenge for food.
Not that I wouldn’t do it, but this is nicer.
Definitely nicer.
Elf and Tank lead me down a brightly lit corridor. There are doors on either side with various labels and signs. Some of the rooms have open windows and I try to discreetly peer in, but it’s still hard to see, even with the glasses on.
“Just keep moving forward,” Elf says gruffly, and I obey. My feet move on their own. As we make our way down the hall, I can’t help but feel dirty and grungy. Elf and Tank are both tall and tan, but their clothes are pristine and white. My own garments are faded and worn. I’m worried that if I touch anything, I’ll darken it and damage it. My skin is physically dirty. I can’t remember the last time I had a bath or a hot shower.
Maybe they’ll give me something new to wear. Surely they won’t let me make the entire journey wearing only a shift.
Will they?
If they want me to stay clean, to keep my hands to myself, they’ll have to give me something to wear. They’ll just have to.
“Mr. Tank,” I say, my throat suddenly dry. As if sensing my sudden panic, both men stop and turn to me.
“What is it, human?” Tank’s voice is straightforward, but gentle.
“How long is the journey to Taneyemm?”
If it’s more than a few weeks, I’ll ask for clothes. I’ll have to figure out how to get the courage, but I’ll do it. I might be able to manage keeping my hands to myself for a few weeks, but more than that and I’ll need something to change into.
Surely they’ll be able to provide that for me.
“Four Earth years.”
Four.
Earth.
Years.
He’s got to be kidding. I knew that the journey was long, but the farthest I’ve ever been was a day’s walk. Years? He’s talking about years?
So much can change in a day.
How much will change in four years?
I’m in a completely different situation than I was hours ago, let alone a day ago. I almost missed this journey by a single day. What the hell am I going to do on a ship for four years?
Play cards?
Maybe they’ll freeze us, I realize suddenly. I’ve heard about that. Rumors, of course, but I’ve heard of it. Before the wars, before the famines, before the plagues, I loved to read. I read a lot about space travel, but suddenly, that time seems very long ago.
We reach the end of a hall and turn, only instead of another hallway, we’re in an open room now. There are several chairs in a semi-circle in front of a panel of knobs and buttons and computers. Beyond that, there’s glass overlooking my planet.
Overlooking my town.
Arcadia was never much to look at, but it was home. Before I start to cry as I take one last, wistful look at my planet, I try to look around the unusual room. Judging from how official everything looks, I would guess this is where the magic happens.
Each chair on the far side of the room has a person in it. Each person is wearing a uniform that is different from Tank and Elf’s. These are more official-looking. They’re black with red fire streaks on the shirts and bright red buttons that go down the front.
All eyes turn as we enter and a tall man, even taller than Elf, walks over to us. He eyes me up and down, then turns to Elf.
He begins speaking in a language I don’t understand.
I wish I did.
Elf responds quickly, waving at me and gesturing wildly. I suppose this is the part of the story where he’s explaining that he found me and I’m going to be Hal’s replacement girl, whatever the fuck that means. I stare at the captain, but try to look demure about it. I don’t think I’m pulling it off. I should probably be staring at my hands or feet, looking shyly away, but that’s not my style.
Never has been.
After a few minutes, the captain makes an exasperated sound and turns to me. This time he speaks English.
“Do not give me trouble,” he says. Then he storms out of the room.
“That went well,” Tank mumbles under his breath, and the men lead me back out.
“Where are we going now?” I ask. Elf doesn’t even look at me. He just grumbles something and we keep walking. Maybe I should just stay silent. I need to make myself as invisible as possible.
Not an easy task, I think dryly, looking at my dirty body.
Instead of talking, I use this time to look around the ship, but we’re moving so quickly that I’m not really sure where we’re at. We go up one staircase and down another, down one hall, around a bend, then more halls.
By the time we stop at a small room, I’m completely turned around and completely exhausted.
They lead me inside and there’s a surprisingly short, blonde-haired man inside. He looks human. I can’t quite shake the idea that Elf, Tank, and the captain aren’t. I feel like they’re Taneyemms, even though they haven’t told me they are.
“Hal,” Elf says, and I know this is the man who “needed the girls.” “We have a girl for you.”
To my surprise, Hal hops up and hugs Elf. He wraps his arms around the man and starts jumping up and down.
“I knew you could do it!” He says. “I knew you could do it!”
Elf gingerly peels Hal away, the same way he would a little child.
“There’s a complication,” Elf says, looking from me and back to Hal. Hal nods.
“What is it? I can tell she’s a bit…worn…but that shouldn’t pose much of a problem on its own. She’s not the worst we’ve seen.”
I’m not sure if this is an insult or a compliment.
“The others have already been frozen,” Tank says, and Elf nods. He looks at me with sympathy.
“She’ll have to stay awake during the trip. There’s no more neila left to freeze her.” Elf sounds truly remorseful and I wonder exactly what’s going to happen to me during four years on a ship full of super sexy men.
“How can there not be any left? Didn’t you know we might find another girl?” Hal’s voice rises a little, and his face starts to look a little red.
“We didn’t think we’d be able to.”
“And?” Hal seems like
he’s waiting for something, and Elf sighs.
“And Dar asked if we’d use the rest to freeze him. You know how he gets bored on these trips.” Elf and Tank both look sympathetically at me once more, as if I’m going to somehow get bored on a spaceship.
As if.
“Is there a room for her?” Hal doesn’t seem fazed by this turn of events, but I am. I’ll be awake on this ship for four years. For four years, the other girls will be asleep, but I won’t.
I’ll be awake.
What the hell am I going to do on a spaceship for four years?
Still, I suppose I can’t complain. They brought me here and saved me from certain death, so I need to be grateful. I’ll smile and nod and do whatever they say because if I do, I get to stay alive, and that’s the real goal, right?
“We have a room and rations,” Elf confirms. He lowers his voice and adds, “Keilla’s.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Hal says, but Elf just grunts. I wonder who Keilla was or who she was to Elf. My heart hurts a little as I wonder what pain he might be feeling. I still haven’t let my father’s death sink in and I’m basically running on autopilot at this point. At the implication of death, my heart threatens to crack a little bit more, but I suck down the pain.
When I’m alone, I can cry.
When I’m alone, I can mourn my father.
Elf turns back to me and places a large, heavy hand on my shoulder.
“Girl, you’ll be fine,” he says. “Listen to Hal. Do what he says. You’ll be fine.”
“Thank you,” I nod. I know he must have risked his neck for me in there with the captain, and I appreciate it. Spontaneously, I wrap my arms around him in a hug, and he tenses for a moment. Then he relaxes his body and hugs me back.
“Take care of yourself,” he says quietly, then he leaves.
“No hug for me, thanks,” Tank says with a smile. He nods at me, then follows Elf out of the room. When they’re gone, I turn back to Hal.
“What happens now?” I ask.
“Now?” He says. “Now I make you Taneyemm material.”
He grins, and I get the feeling that I’m not going to like how Hal prepares me for my new life.
I’m not going to like it at all.
Chapter 3
My room on the ship is small, but comfortable. After a shower, I wrap myself in a warm, white robe. Nothing this soft has ever touched my skin before and I try to savor the moment while it lasts. When I re-enter my room, I’m not sure what to do with myself, so I sit on the bed and stare at the painting on the wall. I assume it’s a picture of life on Taneyemm, but I don’t know. There’s so much I don’t know. Everything has happened so fast. I’m not sure if I should feel relieved, sad, or happy. Maybe I should feel scared. Maybe I should feel horrified. I don’t know.
The painting on the wall is beautiful. The grass in the picture is green and lush. It reminds me of when I was a little girl. My mother would take me to the playground and we’d have a picnic in the grass. It was so soft beneath my feet, beneath my hands.
I haven’t felt anything like that in a long, long time.
When I close my eyes, I try to remember a time before the interplanetary wars, but it’s so hard. Sometimes it feels like the world has always been at war with other planets. Of course, Earth lost those wars many years ago.
When humans could abandon their mother land, they did so as quickly as possible. No one seemed to care that Earth was our home. From where I stood, it seemed like no one really cared that Earth was done for. It feels wrong when I think about it, but then again, I was young.
I’m still young.
I have a feeling that when I arrive on Taneyemm, everything will feel different. Earth will seem like a very long time ago and I will believe I used to be innocent.
After awhile, there’s a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I say, and stand. I wait with my hands folded in front of me. A tall woman enters the room. Her hair is piled high on top of her head and she’s wearing a uniform similar to the ones I saw on the bridge. The woman looks me up and down, but doesn’t smile. She looks tired and a little bit fierce.
“So you’re the human who managed to get a last-minute ticket,” she says, and I nod.
“Yes, ma’am. Mr. Elf and Mr. Tank were kind enough to allow me to board. Apparently another female backed out at the last second.”
“Yes,” the woman says. “That happens sometimes. We don’t give refunds, of course, but every once in awhile someone decides they want to stay with their one true love or some such.”
“Do you do this a lot?” I ask hesitantly, wondering how many missions to Earth she’s been on.
“I’ve picked up refugees from many planets,” she says. “This is my second and final Earth trip. The planet is dying. We cannot come back again.”
“I understand. Thank you for accepting me, ma’am.”
“Don’t thank me yet, honey.” The woman is so tall that I have to stare up at her. I feel about five years old as she looks down on me. For a second, I have the overwhelming urge to hug her, but I refrain. The last thing I need to do is draw unnecessary attention to myself. Chances are that this is already going to be a tough situation for everyone involved. An unplanned for earthling? And one who is going to be awake for four years? How’s that going to work?
As if reading my mind, the woman pats me on the head, almost tenderly.
“I know four years is a long time to be awake. I can’t promise the journey will be easy, but when we arrive, you’ll have a chance to stay on the planet.”
“Please, ma’am. Can you tell me anything about that? How do they decide who gets to stay? How can I improve my chances?”
She waves her hand.
“I’m just the ship manager, doll. I don’t control any of that, but Hal is going to be in charge of you. He’ll tell you everything he can about the planet and try to give you the best possible chance of staying.”
So he’s going to train me?
Like a beauty pageant contestant?
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, sweetie.”
“What about the other girls? The guys said that there were others. How do they find out about the planet? I suppose that being awake, I’ll have quite a few chances to learn things like customs and behaviors, but what about them? How will they be trained?”
“They won’t. The cost of feeding 200 earthlings is incredible even if we only did it for a day, but for four years?” She waves her hand. “We’re already operating with a skeleton crew. We don’t need that many mouths to feed. You got lucky, honey, and you’ll have a small idea of what to expect when we arrive, but those girls are going to be in for a shock.”
I try to let it all sink in, but already my mind is in overdrive. What’s going to happen when we arrive? How will I know if they’ll let me stay? What if they send me away? What if they kill me? Who decides?
“What’s your name, doll?” The woman’s voice is gentle, but I still feel like panicking.
“Riley,” I tell her. “My name is Riley.”
“I’m Jenika,” she says. “I’m the ship manager. I’m not the captain. I don’t make major decisions about the course of the ship or anything like that, but I manage most of the crew. We’re going to be on board a long time, so it’s important that you understand one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t mess with anyone. Don’t cause trouble. Hal will tell you what to do and you need to do it. If Captain Drake gives you an order or if I do, you obey. Do not disobey.”
“What happens if I disobey?” My voice comes out as a tiny squeak, but I already know I don’t want to know the answer.
“For starters,” she steps closer, and I can smell her perfume. She’s so close to me that I could touch her, but I don’t move. “I’ll pull you over my knee and spank you until your bottom is bright red and you’re begging me to stop.”
A spanking?
She’s threateni
ng to spank me?
The thought makes me blush. I don’t think my parents ever spanked me even as a child. The idea is terrifying to me, but the way Jenika says it is almost exciting. My body starts to feel warm and suddenly, my room feels very tiny.
I wish she would step away, but she doesn’t. She invades my space.
“And after my spanking?”
“If you’re still wild after that, darling, it’ll be Captain Drake’s turn, and he’s a lot harder on his toys than I am. Now be a good girl and stay in your room until Hal comes for you.”
Jenika turns and leaves the room. Her high-heeled boots sound sharply on the polished floor of the hall as she disappears, and I collapse on my bed.
I’m on top of the blankets, but I can’t help myself as I slide my fingers under my robe and between my legs. Something about the way Jenika talked about a spanking got me completely riled up. Heat shoots through my body as I think about the way she promised to turn my bottom red.
Will she pull me over her knee if I’m naughty? Will she glide her hands over my soft skin before striking it? I wonder if she’ll warm me up softly or start with hard, swift swats.
One finger slides inside my body as I picture her touching me. I might not be very experienced, but I have a very active imagination, and there is nothing hard about picturing Jenika touching me.
Four years is a long time to be without physical touch and part of me, a naughty part of me, hopes she’ll actually follow through on her promise to touch me.
It doesn’t take long for me to near orgasm. Soon I’m breathing hard and rubbing my clit quickly, legs splayed on the bed as I picture being bent over a desk and spanked by naughty Mistress Jenika. Just as I’m about to climax, just as I’m about to come, my door blasts open and Hal bursts in.
“No!” He says, grabbing my hand. He pulls it away for me and immediately, I let out a whine.
“What are you doing?” I cry. I was so close. I was so very close and he completely stole my orgasm away. Tears fill my eyes and I’m seriously about to start sobbing in front of Hal. I don’t even know this guy, but I was my damn climax. “Why would you do that?” I say.