by Sophie Stern
“Yes! Hal told me you were coming! Go on then, Hal. I’ll take good care of her.”
“Wait!” I turn back to him. “What’s going on?”
“This is Ruby,” he says. “Don’t worry. She’ll take good care of you.”
“I thought you said we were having lessons today.”
“This is lesson number one,” he says, quite seriously, and then he leaves. For a moment, I just stare at the door, not quite believing what’s happening. That’s it? He’s leaving? After all the buildup about “lessons,” I thought Hal was going to teach me something useful.
Apparently not.
I turn back to Ruby. She comes closer to me and, to my surprise, pulls my dress off. With a squeak of surprise, I move to cover myself, but she slaps my hands away.
“No, no. No modesty here. When you arrive on Taneyemm, there won’t be room for that.” Her voice is kind, but her eyes hold a warning.
“Ruby,” I say carefully, dropping my hands to my side. “What exactly is going to happen to me on Taneyemm?”
Seriously, if I’m going to be a sex slave, I wish someone would just tell me. So far, I know very little, but I’m starting to get used to their way of hiding information. It seems like I am told only as much as I need to know and nothing more. Maybe things will be different once I’ve been here awhile and everyone sees I don’t intend to make trouble, but I can’t be sure. I just know that if I want to stay, I need to be on my best behavior at all times.
Apparently, this means being naked a lot.
“Get on the table,” Ruby says, ignoring my question, and I obey. “First things first,” she walks around me, looking at my body. “When you arrive on the planet, you’ll be vetted by one of the doctors. He’ll make sure you’re in good health and there’s nothing wrong with you. If there’s a problem, you won’t be allowed to stay on the planet.”
I’m on my back, lying flat on the table. My hands are at my sides. If I close my eyes, I can pretend I’m just resting in my own bed, but the lights are so bright that I can’t fool my imagination for long.
“What happens if someone is sick?”
“They’re sent to a healing planet.”
“What’s that?”
“A story for another day. Now lie still.” I work hard not to move, but panic is raging inside of me. Somehow, I need to learn to keep my panic attacks at bay. There are going to be a lot of weird things happening to me in the future and I need to be ready for anything. Panicking won’t solve anything, so it’s important to stay calm.
My eyes follow my new friend as she moves around in the room. Ruby grabs a small metal wand from a wall. I wonder what the hell she’s about to do, but Ruby just smiles.
“This won’t hurt,” she says, and she starts moving it up and down my leg. The metal is cool against my skin at first, but gradually warms. I hear a soft buzzing sound, but there’s no pain. “I’m removing your hair,” she says, and I blush. I know I blush. I can feel myself turn red. I know women are supposed to be dainty and clean, but I’ve been living in a hut.
Hairy is my new normal.
Again, not anymore. Things are changing for me, starting with my physical appearance. What’s going to come next? My knowledge or my attitude? There’s no doubt in my mind I’ll be trained to be a good little Taneyemm human while I’m on the ship. This is going to mean a lot of difficult days and probably a lot of punishments because I’m stubborn and change doesn’t come easy for me.
“When you arrive, after you see the doctor, you’ll either be assigned a job or you’ll go to auction.”
“Auction?”
“Yes. Human girls are quite popular. Maybe you’ll be bought to be someone’s house servant or toy.”
I try to focus on what she said first and not last. The idea of being someone’s toy doesn’t exactly appeal to me.
“But I might get a job? I might not have to be someone’s servant?”
“Darling, you’re gorgeous. I can guarantee you’re going to be someone’s toy. Some girls do get jobs, but I can tell you right now, that won’t be you.”
I must start crying because Ruby stops what she’s doing to my legs and lifts me up so I’m sitting. Then she wraps her arms around me and holds me. She’s still standing next to the table, and she’s dressed and I’m not, so it’s a little awkward. Still, it’s the first physical affection I’ve had in a long time. I’ll take what I can get.
“It’s going to be okay,” she promises. “Girls are only auctioned to the royal house and noblemen. They won’t hurt you.”
“But what if they do?”
“They won’t.”
I might not be a dragon, but I can tell she’s lying. Still, I’ll hold onto her words for a little while. All too soon, reality will become apparent, and then I’ll have to cope with what I’ve become.
A possession.
When Ruby is done getting rid of my hair, she helps me off the table and I stand in front of the full-length mirror that hangs on one of the walls.
“What do you think?” She asks, and I just stare at myself. I don’t know what she did, but it didn’t hurt at all, and my body, from my neck down, is hairless. I run my hands over my breasts and down between my legs. Everything is so soft and smooth.
Ruby notices what I’m staring at and smiles.
“Mine is bare, too,” she pulls her pants down to her knees and I turn to look at her own bare pussy. My gaze meets hers and I realize that Ruby’s eyes look a little yellow. I wonder how much truth there was to Hal’s stories about the dragons. I lick my lips and look back at her pussy, then at mine.
“It feels soft,” I say.
“Oh yes,” she reaches out and touches me. “Very soft.” She slides a finger through my lips and I try not to quiver, but it happens so fast that I can’t stop. Ruby lifts me and lies me back down on the table. She’s not a giant, but she picks me up like I weigh nothing.
“What are you doing?” I ask, but then I’m quiet because she’s touching my pussy and it feels amazing.
No one has ever touched me there before.
No one but me.
I hold very still. She can’t stop now. She just can’t. I’ll die if she stops and what she’s doing feels so very, very good. Ruby’s fingers slip through my folds and center on my soft nub. She moves two fingers in a circular motion, round and round, until my breath catches and I start moaning.
Oh, it’s never felt like this before.
Is this why everyone loves sex? Why it’s so amazing? Why wars are fought over it? Ruby has only been touching me for a few seconds, but already, I’m going a bit crazy with lust.
“I can smell your arousal,” she says, but doesn’t stop touching me. “You like this, don’t you?”
“Yes, Ruby,” I murmur. “This feels so nice.”
She moves her fingers faster and faster until my eyes closed and the only thing I’m aware of is the pleasure building in my body. I’m about to dive into a wave of perfection when her fingers leave my body, only to be replaced with her tongue.
Her tongue is on me.
That’s all it takes.
I explode on Ruby’s table, coming all over her face. She keeps licking me as I cry out loudly, wiggling beneath her touch on the table. As my body eases back down from its high, I become aware of my surroundings once again, and I push up on my elbows to look at her.
She’s standing at the foot of the table smiling, obviously pleased with herself.
“What do you think, doll face?” She asks. “Better than the Earthlings?”
“I, I don’t know.” I say. Her smile falters for just a second, until I add, “That was my first time doing anything like that.”
Her eyes widen and she goes, “What?”
“My…my first time with another person,” I say. “I’ve never…” I wave my arm around. “That was the first.”
Ruby strides quickly over to my face and places her hands on my cheeks.
“Riley,” she whispers. “Are you a
virgin?”
I gulp, realizing this is the moment of truth. I could make something up, but it seems stupid at this point. She’s already seen all I have. Isn’t it better to be honest than make a fool of myself? Hal’s words from yesterday return to me and I remember what he said about the Taneyemms and honesty: they value it above everything else.
“Yes,” I say. “I’m a virgin.”
“Holy dragons,” she murmurs. “This changes everything.”
Chapter 5
Ruby leaves me in the room and tells me to stay put. That’s no problem. I’m curious, sure, but not so curious that I’ll risk getting in trouble for looking around. Pushing back the temptation to open drawers and cupboards, I stay on the table, but I sit up. My knees come up to my chest and I wrap my arms around myself.
What could she possibly mean? Her words weren’t ominous, but they left me hanging. Now I’m all alone with nothing to do but think about what she said.
Does Taneyemm have a thing against virgins? I’m sure it’s a situation we could remedy pretty quickly. Hal isn’t really my type, if I were to say I had a “type,” but I’m sure he’d be able to get the job done pretty fast.
Then again, maybe not Hal. I saw the way he looked at Elf and I feel like maybe there was something between them. Growing up, we all discovered quickly that other planets don’t have hang-ups when it comes to sexuality. No one really cares if you like men or women or something else or both. As long as you don’t let your love life distract you at work, you can do as you please.
So why was Ruby so weird about me being a virgin?
It’s not that I planned on being a 24-year-old virgin. Who does? It’s a bit pathetic, really. It’s a bit silly. Here I am, though: grownup and alone. When I was a kid, I always thought I’d start dating as a teenager, maybe have a boyfriend or a car, but before I hit puberty, we had our first war, and that was when everything changed.
Suddenly, there wasn’t time for dating or sex or anything fun.
Suddenly, the only thing that mattered was staying alive.
Oh, I know plenty of people who have babies, even now. People always find a way to fuck and play, but me? I had my dad to look after. I would have felt guilty leaving him alone to go spend time with a male, so I never did. He never mentioned it and I never brought it up.
I didn’t plan to make it to my 24th birthday, though.
Maybe I should have planned ahead better.
Perhaps I should have been a bit wilder. Still, I don’t really feel embarrassed about being an innocent. If there’s a problem, surely they can deflower me. Right? Surely someone on this ship has a dick they wouldn’t mind using.
I try not to focus on the negative, but it’s hard when the ship is completely silent. Even though there are plenty of people on it, the ship is so big that there is almost never any noise. When I imagined spaceships as a kid, I pictured noises and whirring and sounds, but strangely, everything seems quiet.
Much quieter than Earth.
Even as the planet was falling apart, people were loud. Babies cried, people sang and yelled and shouted. There was always something happening.
Now I’m sitting in a sterile room just waiting for something.
After a long time, Ruby returns with Jenika. They’re speaking in the other language, the one I can’t understand.
Ruby is motioning wildly at my body and I immediately try to cover myself, but Jenika doesn’t seem bothered by my nudity. If anything, she seems curious. She eyes me with surprise and perhaps a bit of uncertainty, but finally, she speaks to me.
“You’ve never been fucked?”
I shake my head.
“Not even at all?”
“No,” I whisper. “Not even at all.”
“Are you a prude?” Jenika asks.
“Um, no,” I mumble. Suddenly, I’m a bit embarrassed by my lack of experience. I really talked myself up about it, but now that it’s go-time? Now I’m a little nervous. “I just never had a chance.”
“Oh, this is good,” Jenika says, rubbing her hands together like she’s coming up with an evil plan. “He’ll like that.”
“Who?” I ask.
“The King, of course,” Jenika waves her hand away. “We’ve never had a human virgin before. He’ll want you. Of all the girls, I guarantee he’ll pick you.”
The King?
“You have a King?”
“Yes, he’s very handsome,” Ruby says, a little dreamily.
“What would he want with me?” I ask, and both women just start laughing.
“Oh, doll,” Ruby says. “We have a lot more to work on than your body hair. A lot more. Best we get started.”
***
The two women are in cahoots with Hal and they all come up with a plan for making me as fit for the King as possible. I have no idea if their plan is going to work or what the consequences for failure might be, but they seem certain they can whip me into shape before we reach Taneyemm.
Apparently, the King is notoriously picky about his females and never keeps a woman for very long. Oh, when he’s done with them, he sends them to the countryside to live in this mansion with the other females he’s given up on, but apparently the planet is tired of him not having a proper queen, and he’s been given an ultimatum.
Basically, that’s where I come in.
Jenika is going to teach me the language. The other girls will learn a small amount when they’re woke prior to our arrival, but after four years of speaking, I should be able to communicate very well. That’ll be points in my favor, but there are plenty of other things I need to learn about Taneyemm.
Ruby volunteered to teach me about pleasing a man. Jenika wants to watch those lessons, but I’m not sure why. Perhaps she wants to see that I’m learning correctly. Maybe she’s just horny. I don’t know. Hal doesn’t care and he’ll focus on teaching me the traditions and customs of Taneyemm.
All I know is that four years doesn’t seem like a long time to be primed for a possible marriage when there’s no guarantee the King will even want me.
I’m just a human and he’s…well, if what Hal says is accurate, he’s an alien dragon with an insatiable appetite for women.
And me?
I’m just a virgin.
How can I possibly be enough for him?
Chapter Five
Four years later
By the time we land on Taneyemm, I’m accustomed to the light. The other girls aren’t quite as lucky and most of them still wear large, dark glasses to shield their eyes from Taneyemm’s sun.
Me?
I just look around. I try to take it all in. This is my first time seeing another planet and I don’t want to miss a damn thing.
After four years of training, I’m confident. I look great. That little starving waif? Yeah, she died. In her place is a luscious, curvy human with one thing on the mind: sex.
I’ve been in a state of heightened sexual awareness for years now and if I don’t get a release soon, I’m going to just die.
Hal hasn’t paid much attention to me since the rest of the girls were thawed, but he warned me ahead of time that this would happen. Once he released them from their frozen dreamlands, he spent a month whipping them into shape for Taneyemm. I spent most of that time hiding in my room. My training was complete at that point and the only thing left to do was wait.
Now the waiting is over.
Now we have arrived.
We’re each dressed in a long, flowing dress. Like the blue gown I wore on the ship, this one is almost transparent, but not quite. Each girl’s dress is a different color. Mine is dark green.
Hal says it brings out my eyes.
I say it only brings out my nipples because they’re basically poking through the thin fabric.
“This is it ladies,” Hal says, and he makes sure we’re all lined up. He walks up and down the row of girls, adjusting each person’s hair as necessary. Mine is curled and worn down over my shoulders. I feel very grown-up, perhaps more grown-up
than I should. Compared the other girls, I’m worldly and experienced. I know more than they could imagine there is to know about Taneyemm culture.
I only hope it’s enough.
A train-like vehicle arrives to take us to a building where we’ll be sold as house servants or assigned government jobs. Most of the girls have already been sorted, but there are a few who could go either way. Hal and Jenika have had communication with Teneyemm for the last few months, so they’ve figured out exactly how many girls need to go into specific job fields and how many are wanted as house servants.
Or wives.
Once the girls were thawed, they determined who had skills that would benefit Taneyemm in different ways. A few girls didn’t survive the freezing process and when they were thawed, their hearts didn’t start beating again. Hal says that was accounted for, though. The number of girls they got was based on the average of how many tend to survive the trip.
I’m not sure how I feel about that information, so I try not to.
Apparently, more girls died this trip than ever before. Hal think it’s because our nutrition was so poor on Earth. While the previous journeys had been filled with somewhat-healthy earthlings, this trip was filled with starving, needy females who had been without food, water, and shelter.
I try not to think about that as I wait for the train with the other females. There’s no reason to focus on the past. What’s done is done. Hal didn’t warn anyone they might not survive the freezing process when they chose to embark for Taneyemm, but even if he had, I don’t think it would have made a difference. Everyone still would have chosen to go.
A chance at a good life was better than sitting around waiting to die.
A few girls have forged little friendships, but I have not. I haven’t seen a reason to.
That probably makes me a bad person, but once we’re sent off to our new homes, we’ll never see each other again, so I might as well focus on the things I can control.
Like breathing.
The train pulls forward and Hal ushers us inside. We’re each holding a card with a number on it. The other girls can’t read the numbers, so they just match the symbol to their seat on the train.