Candidate (Selected Book 4)

by Robin Roseau

  "We'll let you do the tutorial back in your cell," Jasmine said. "Interviews are tomorrow."

  "I'll check in on you later," I said.

  "The visor won't let you send email," Jasmine added. "Except to the two of us. You'll see the feature when you get that far."

  Jackie nodded. "All right."

  I used my visor and summoned the guards. Then I said, "If you have any more questions, we have a minute or so. Or you can email us later, once you've had a chance to think."

  She turned to Jasmine. "Do you promise he won't rape me?"

  "He'll touch you," Jasmine said. "Like a gentle boyfriend. And you need to let him. But he won't touch you in any fashion you don't like, and he will never hurt you. No, he won't rape you." She paused. "I've had two women raped. Do you know what I did?"

  "No."

  "One was here, during one of the challenges. He is now dead. The other was after they left, and he is now an it. Do you understand me?"

  "You cut it off?"

  "Yep. And half his brain with it."

  "Don't mess with Jasmine," I said. "She kicks ass."

  "Both were from species that demand the challenges," Jasmine added. "You won't be dealing with either species."

  Then the guards stepped in. Jackie heard them and turned around.

  "I'm going to dim your visor, Jackie," I said. "Then the guards will take you back to your cell." I didn't wait. I dimmed her visor, and then the guards stepped forward. I released her from the table, and they helped her to stand and turned her away.

  "Wait," she said. "Andromeda, do you think I could have a hug?"

  "Of course you can."

  * * * *

  Peggy Ann Page, the redhead, was my next, about an hour later. The first portion of the interview went about the same, with a little more anger and name-calling before she calmed down. But then I said, "Does it bother you that I'm gay?"

  "Why would it bother me?"

  "You know how people can be," I said. I explained everything then said, "You have choices."

  "It doesn't sound like it."

  "Well, you can decide you're going to fight."

  "Damned right, I'm going to fight."

  "If you fight, there is a chance -- a fairly small chance -- that it will be a female who wins you. And then you will have the challenges. It is very likely she will win the final one. And then you will go home with her, and she will attempt to woo you. It is my guess she will be successful."

  "You said a small chance."

  "It is far more likely a male will win."

  She paused. "You said we could affect the outcome. Something about a ribbon."

  "Yes. You have a ribbon, and if you give it to one of the challengers, then you go right into a cage, and he automatically wins. You stay in the cage until the rest is over."

  "So I can do that. But then we still have the other challenges, and I could win then."

  "Yes. But consider this. I have some influence over whether there are any females in the group of males that will be competing for all of you. But I have absolutely no influence over several things. I can't promise there won't be four other women with the same plan and only two females to offer to. And I can't promise she won't want someone else instead. She is not obligated to accept your ribbon."

  "Maybe I'm okay with a guy."

  "Maybe you are," I said.

  "What would you do?"

  "Well, if you want a guy, and you want to fight, that's easy. Go to the arena the day after tomorrow and do your best."

  "And if I want more control than that?"

  "Offer yourself willingly. Forego the challenges."

  "What if I want that chance, but with a female?"

  "You can hope. I can offer influence. I can't promise."

  And then Jasmine walked in. I turned to her. "Are you going to let me do any of these alone?"

  "You know me. Control freak." She sat down. "Introduce us."

  Peggy Ann was staring at Jasmine.

  "Peggy Ann Page, this is Jasmine Brighteyes. She runs this place. She wants you to call her Administrator Brighteyes. You can call her other names, and she might not do the shit to you she's done to me, but I wouldn't count on it."

  "Hey!" Jasmine said. "Be polite."

  Peggy Ann smiled briefly at me, then turned her gaze back to Jasmine. "You're the reason I'm here."

  "I'm the reason you have any choice at all. Before I took this job, all the women ended up in the arena and were told there what was about to happen. Most of them were still figuring it out when the event started."

  "That's terrible!"

  "Yes, I agree with you. You're conflicted, aren't you?"

  "I want to fight. I'm going to kick alien ass and then go home." But then she looked at me. "You're gay."

  "Yes."

  "What about you?" she asked Jasmine.

  "My species doesn't have a word for that. We also don't have a word for gender. We're all female, and it wasn't until we met other races that we learned there were other forms of procreation."

  "All female?"

  "Didn't I get to that?" I asked. "I would have if given sufficient opportunity."

  "You're kind of pretty," Peggy Ann said. "I like your eyes."

  "Thank you."

  "I'd fight you," she said. "If I win, I get to go home, right?"

  "Unfortunately," I said, "Catseye don't fight that way. If you want a Catseye, you have to be willing. No challenges. You go home with her."

  Again she looked back and forth, her gaze settling on Jasmine. "I bet all the guys in the arena are big hulking beasts."

  "Not all," she said. "But that is the trend, yes. But we have a few species who are very, very fast, and that can make up for size and strength. Sometimes they win. Sometimes they get very, very hurt."

  "I don't like big guys," she said. "They're all assholes."

  "That's not necessarily true of the aliens," Jasmine said cautiously. "Although we get a few like that."

  "I don't care. You said I have some choices. Fine. I'll give a female a chance. A chance. That's what she gets, right?"

  "Right. But it has to be an honest chance." She repeated everything she told Jackie.

  "I want to meet her," Peggy Ann said. "I want someone who will treat me well, and not some blubbering bimbo, either."

  "There is a reception this evening," I said. "All female."

  "Perfect," she said. "Get me some clothes, and I'll be there."

  "I want to ask you something. Would a few hours of being slightly uncomfortable, socially speaking, be worth it to meet a room full of space aliens, all of whom are going to be glued to your every word?"

  Peggy Ann laughed. "Yeah, I really lure them in."

  "You should trust her on this one," Jasmine said. "Ms. Page, we will introduce you to a number of interested females, but you will not be the one picking."

  "I get to veto though, right?"

  "Yes, but if you veto too many, you'll be in the arena."

  "So I meet them once, and then..."

  I turned to Jasmine. "Administrator Brighteyes."

  "No. Just no. I know what you're going to ask."

  "Give her some time, Administrator. Please."

  She made a disgusted sound. "Why should I?"

  "It's the rest of her life! Let her, I don't know. Let her go on a few dates."

  "Dates? Now you want me to let her go on dates?"

  "Yes. And I think you should bring in the females who prefer challenges." I turned back. "They have Wookies."

  "What? Like Chewbacca?"

  "They're white."

  "Not all of them," Jasmine said.

  "One of them is my friend. She's very sweet. They want to fight though. So maybe you want to meet some of them, too, and if you hit it off, you skip the arena and go to the remaining challenges. Otherwise, maybe a Catseye will strike your fancy, or one of the other females who wants a good woman with amazing red hair."

  "Ms. Hayes, we talked about this!"
<
br />   We certainly had, and I wasn't offering a thing we hadn't agreed to.

  "I'll do it willingly," Peggy Ann said. "I promise. I'll give her a chance. But you need to at least let me meet her first. I'll be able to tell if we won't hit it off. I swear. You wouldn't want to give me to someone who I hate, anyway. After all, I might have to give her a chance, but if I hate her, I hate her."

  "Well, Administrator?"

  Jasmine made another disgusted sound. "Fine. Two weeks. You get one cycle. You either accept someone, or in two weeks, you're in the arena. Am I clear, Ms. Page?"

  "You're clear, Administrator. Thank you."

  "Wait here."

  "I'm not going anywhere," said Peggy Ann. She rattled her hands.

  Jasmine stood up, exited the room, and came back with another visor. She set it down. A minute later, it was on Peggy Ann's face.

  She asked for a hug, too. I told her I'd see her that evening, but I'd be dressed a lot differently than I was now.

  As soon as she was gone, Jasmine yanked me into her arms, hugging me fiercely. The tentacle came across my lips, and I was surprised, but I kissed, and she invaded.

  "You are my new secret weapon," she said. "I should have taken you six years ago."

  "Mmmmm mmm,"

  She laughed and released me. "I want you to do a few more interviews."

  "I have two left."

  "I have three more for you. One is mine. The other two are Cedar's."

  * * * *

  Laurel spent the entire interview crying quietly. I explained everything and then leaned across the table and lifted her chin.

  "Laurel, you don't want to fight, do you?" She shook her head slowly. "Your other choice is to accept willingly. I promise he'll treat you well, but if you don't like him, he'll let you go home. In the meantime, you'll have a heck of an adventure. That won't be so bad, will it?"

  "No," she said.

  "I need you to say the words. You'll accept willingly?"

  "I'll accept willingly," she said.

  And Jasmine walked in.

  * * * *

  Alisha, the stunning black doctor, was a different story. She was spitting mad, and it was all four guards that brought her in. They shoved her into the chair, and I missed with swallowing her twice before I caught her. I only missed once on her hands.

  Then they stepped back but didn't leave until I nodded to them.

  She struggled with the restraints. I walked over to her and said, "Doctor Stanley, my name is Andromeda Hayes. I am a human and arrived here ten days ago the way you did last night. If you can calm down just a little, I can take this hood from your head."

  She stilled, but I could see her muscles quivering. But she nodded, and I gently removed the hood. As soon as I did, she looked around the room until she saw me. She was sweating and her hair was matted, but she looked stunning.

  And amazingly angry.

  I moved to my seat and sat down. "I know you're angry, Doctor. I don't blame you. I was, too, although you're better at expressing it than I was."

  "What is that supposed to mean?"

  "It means it didn't take four guards to bring me to this room ten days ago. Let me tell you just a little about myself then explain what is going on." I paused. "You can hate me if you want, but our situation isn't that different."

  She listened without comment.

  "This is fucking bullshit," she said. "I'm a doctor. I'm in my first year of residency. Do you have any idea how hard I've worked?"

  "That was what I said when I saw your profile, Doctor. And do you know what the aliens asked me."

  "Oh, enlighten me."

  "They asked me whether you'd like access to alien technology."

  "Fuck," she said. "Just fuck you." But she leaned back in her chair. "You're serious."

  "I'm just the messenger," I said. "But that's what they asked me."

  She turned away. "I want to hear it from one of them."

  Jasmine didn't walk in. I signaled her. "I need you."

  "Coming."

  "All right," I said. "The administrator is coming." I explained about Catseye and was just finishing when Jasmine walked in. I introduced them, and she sat down.

  "I was just telling Dr. Stanley what I know about alien technology. It isn't much."

  Alisha turned to Jasmine. "Are you messing with me?"

  "No, Dr. Stanley," she replied. "But it wouldn't be up to me. It would be up to your husband."

  "Fuck that," she said. "That one said some of you are as gay as I am. No husbands."

  "I might be able to arrange that," Jasmine said.

  "So you're saying it's her choice, my new wife's. I don't have a say in the matter?"

  "I can't imagine you remaining silent," I said.

  "But she's going to want, what? Me to pop out fucking babies or something? I hate babies."

  "Are you telling me you wouldn't carry a baby if the woman you deeply loved begged you to?" Jasmine asked.

  That shut Alisha down, and she leaned away from the table, her arms stretched out. She rattled her arms. "Do I have to sit like this?"

  "It took four guards to bring you here," Jasmine said. "So yes, I'm afraid so."

  "Fine, whatever." She leaned forward again. "Right away? I want to get my career going. You can't tell me I went through went years of school and then wham! Baby factory."

  "It would be a negotiation with your future mate," Jasmine said. "Perhaps you could come to an agreement."

  "Like what?"

  "Well, it wouldn't be for me to say."

  "Like hell," I said. I turned to Dr. Stanley. "Tell her you want an updated education and to get your career going. Shit, you'll have alien tech. You can have babies for decades, and you could afford a year to pop one or two of the rugrats out. Tell her what the word Governess means, if you don't want to take care of them yourself. Pop out a baby ten years from now in exchange for an education no doctor on Earth has ever had."

  She looked back and forth, her gaze settling on me. "You're a, um. Mating candidate. What are you doing here then?"

  "Well, I made my own arrangement," I said. "I agreed to give her what she wanted if I got what I wanted."

  "What's that?"

  "A job."

  Alisha stared at me for a moment and then began laughing. But then she sobered and turned to Jasmine. "What do you think about what she said?" She gestured with her nose to me.

  "I think you would have to talk to your future mate."

  "That's like Mom saying 'maybe' she really means 'no'."

  "Come on, Administrator," I said. "You can't take someone fresh out of medical school and say 'fuck you, you're now a baby machine'. Even you aren't that heartless."

  Jasmine made what I realized now was a well-rehearsed disgusted sound. "I could talk to the potential mates on your behalf and negotiate something fitting." But she looked at me. "But this concept of waiting decades is ridiculous."

  "One decade," said Alisha. "Let me learn. Get established. And I need to keep my skills sharp, even if I'm down and out for a few months."

  Jasmine studied her. "And you'll go willingly?"

  "Are you kidding? You didn't have to do all this. You just had to ask." But she paused. "But."

  "Oh, there are no but's, doctor."

  "I like femme's," she said. "Do you know what that means?"

  "Yes."

  "And she better be damned good with her tongue," Alisha added. "If you get what I mean."

  Jasmine studied her. Then she surprised me. I heard an unzipping sound, and then her tentacles emerged. I watched for a moment then turned to Alisha. She was staring.

  "What in the fuck are those?"

  "Um. Tentacles," I said.

  "She's a fucking octopus?"

  Jasmine moved one of the tentacles to rest on the table, the end pointed in the air with the tip just at eye level in front of Alisha. Then she wriggled it. I thought it was damned sexy, actually, and I found myself staring at it.

  "Imagine
what I can do with one of these," Jasmine said slowly. And then she added the rest. "And I don't have one. I have four."

  Alisha licked her lips. "What species are you again?"

  "Catseye."

  "You were hiding them earlier."

  "A lot of humans freak out," Jasmine said.

  "She's not freaking out," Alisha said with a nod to me.

  In response, I grabbed one of the tentacles. I thought about kissing it, but that implied too much. Instead I set it on my arm, and Jasmine wrapped it around, the tip coming to a rest just behind my ear.

  "I want to feel one."

  "I'm not letting your hands go," Jasmine said. "I might start trusting you, but not yet."

  "Fine. My arm. My face. Whatever. I want to feel one."

  Jasmine had four. She kept one on me. Another she wrapped around Alisha's arm, and a third she used to caress her cheek and tease her ear.

  "It's not slimy."

  "I can produce an oil," Jasmine said. "I come with my own lubrication."

  "She gives amazing foot massages."

  Alisha looked back and forth between us. "Are you two..."

  "No," I said. "But she gave me a foot massage. It was amazing. Best I've ever had. The hugs are pretty impressive, too."

  "Are you married, Administrator?"

  "I can't give you what you want," Jasmine said. She lowered the tentacle across Alisha's face but kept the one on her arm. "I live and work here. We have a medical facility, but it is small. You want someone to take you to the space station. You can become a doctor there, if you want, or go into research."

  "Fine. Are there any Catseye from the station?"

  "A few."

  She looked down at her arm, at the tentacle on her arm.

  "We like to touch," Jasmine said. "If you don't liked being touched, we're a poor choice for you. Andromeda, stand up and turn around."

  I climbed to my feet and showed my back.

  "We like bare skin," Jasmine said. "Andromeda has begun accepting hugs from her Catseye friends, and I have asked her to dress like this for us. This is touch between friends, not necessarily lovers. But if you accept mating with a Catseye, she will want you to dress like this for her, and she will touch you a great deal."

  I turned around and sat back down. Alisha looked a little stunned. Then she nodded. "I'd like to meet these Catseye."

  "I cannot promise they will be interested, and you may not care for the individuals."