My body started trembling. I just wanted it all to be over. Waking up from a nightmare.
"I'm going to open the door," the Trad warned me. "I'm going to stay outside. Don't be afraid. I really just want to give you something to eat and drink."
As soon as he'd finished, the door slid open. From behind my pillow fort, I just about made out his upper body as he bent down and pushed something along the floor. Then the door shut, mercifully hiding him from view.
I held my breath, listening just in case he'd snuck in. No, I seemed to be alone.
"I wasn't sure what you'd like," he called from outside. "Let me know if none of those dishes is to your taste and I'll try and find something better."
That was...weird. Like he actually cared about what I liked. How I felt. It had to be a deceptive tactic. Those Trads weren't here to help me. I knew better than to trust anything they said or did.
My stomach growled. I wished I could just ignore the offering, but I was way too thirsty and hungry. I needed to keep up my strength too.
I got up, my legs shaking slightly, and cautiously climbed over my wall of cushions. Had the Trad left or was he waiting on the other side of the door? I supposed it didn't matter. If he wanted to do me harm, there wasn't much I could do to fight him off.
A metal bottle was waiting next to a large plate that seemed to contain a dozen different kinds of food all piled on top of each other. I picked it up as fast as I could and retreated back into my pillow fort. Even though it was just an illusion of safety, being surrounded by all these cushions and blankets gave me a tiny bit of comfort.
I opened the bottle and hastily gulped down several mouthfuls of water. It tasted as pure as if it had been taken right from a mountain spring. The food was another matter. I started with something that looked like a doughy dumpling. It was absolutely tasteless. Even a whole bottle of ketchup wouldn't have made that better. I ignored everything that seemed to be meat and opted instead for some orange vegetables, about as long as carrots but thicker and more knobbly. They tasted like cinnamon. Interesting. Strange, but good.
By the time I’d eaten all the veggies, my stomach felt a little less tense.
“What do you like the most?” the alien called from the outside. I almost jumped. He’d been so quiet that I’d managed to forget that he was there.
I stared at my plate. The only thing left were the dumplings and disgusting looking bits of meat. I was still hungry, but was I willing to eat that meat? It could have come from anything. Aliens. Humans, for all I knew. No thanks.
“The vegetables,” I said quietly, not sure if he’d hear me.
“Vegetables? I didn’t give you any.”
There had to be a translation error. “The orange bits.”
The Trad started laughing, while I blinked at what I’d thought were space carrots. What the fuck had I been eating?
“I’ll get you some more boiled fluff worms then,” he chuckled and I could hear him get up. “Of course you’d choose the most expensive delicacy we have on board.”
Worms?! I’d eaten worms?
My stomach lurched. It was only because it had been so empty to begin with that I managed not to throw up.
Worms. Bloody worms. A shiver of disgust ran over my skin. As delicious as they’d been, I didn’t think I’d be able to eat more of those.
“Do you have any vegetables?” I asked weakly.
“Vuk grows some leaves,” he replied with clear distaste. “I shall get you some.”
While waiting for him to return, I nibbled on the dumpling a bit more. It should have been filling, but all it did was suck the moisture from my mouth. If his ‘leaves’ turned out to be inedible, I guessed I’d be stuck with tasteless dumplings until…whatever was going to happen to me.
He got back fast, before I’d even managed to eat half the dumpling.
“I’m going to open the door again,” he warned me softly.
I was still safe and sound in my fort. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel as frightened this time. Him staying away from me, keeping on the other side of the door, had reassured me. He might be attacking me later, but he genuinely seemed to want me to eat.
As soon as the door had closed again, I left my little castle. A bowl of large leaves swimming in hot water was waiting for me. No spoon though, so I used my fork to fish out one of the bright green leaves. It reminded me of spinach, except that it was bigger and the colour was a lot more intense.
Carefully, I chewed off a tiny bit. The texture was annoyingly slimy, but then an explosion of taste filled my mouth and I forgot all about that. It didn’t taste like just one plant. It was an entire meal trapped in one bite, a cacophony of flavours melting on my tongue.
I greedily stuffed the rest of the leaf into my mouth. This was amazing. And unless there were alien animals that looked like giant spinach leaves, it really was a vegetable. No worms, no strange meats. Safe food.
“Do you like the krauz?” the Trad asked.
“Yes.” My reply was instinctive, blurting out before I could stop myself.
He chuckled again. “Vuk will like that. He’s been trying to get me to eat those, but I prefer proper food. I’m sure he could make you a fluff worm krauz stew, if you wanted.”
No thanks.
I continued eating in silence, aware of his presence but no longer as unsettled by it. By the time the bowl was emptied, my stomach was filled and a pleasant warmth was spreading through my body. I felt better than I had in…ever since I’d been kidnapped. Which was strange, considering that a Trad was lurking outside.
“Would you like a bath?”
I lifted my head, about to say yes, but then the memory of Arri flashed into my mind, the way he’d looked at me, like prey, when he’d told me to go shower. I shuddered and wrapped my arms around my knees.
For a moment, I’d forgotten what kind of creatures were holding me. Trads were worse than Athions. I couldn’t trust them. Not ever.
Chapter 9
Vuk
I paced my room, back and forth. I’d been doing it for hours now, but it helped me think. It usually did, anyway. Not this time. I couldn’t get my mind off the human female on board. The way she’d felt in my arms. How light her body had been. How soft. How her eyes had blinked up at me. How she’d moaned in pain. How I wanted to hear that sound again, but not because she was in pain. I wanted her to feel good. Safe. Revered. Yet there she was, scared and alone in her room. I’d stopped watching her. Seeing her cowering in her pillow nest made me want to throw things. Those Athions had so much to answer for. We’d make them pay.
I checked my communicator every ten clicks. No messages from other pirates had arrived yet. Nor had an Athion ship been spotted by our AI. We’d stopped moving, floating in space, until we had a lead to follow. Randomly flying in one direction wasn’t a good strategy, but the inaction was killing me.
If I couldn’t protect the female by cradling her in my arms, I at least wanted to destroy any threat there may be to her safety.
My father had told me once about the incredible urge he felt to guard and defend his female, but I’d never believed it to be something that would happen to me. My parents had been special for Trads. They’d been truly in love. My mother’s death had destroyed my father. It was inevitable for him to pass away shortly after.
Now, with the human on board, I knew exactly what he’d been talking about. The instinct telling me to run to her room was overwhelming.
My tail swept from side to side, banging against the wall. The slight pain kept me grounded, but it wasn’t enough. I needed action. I needed to do something that didn’t involve pacing my room.
I activated my communicator. “Raf?”
“Yes?”
“How is she doing?”
“She liked your krauz. You better go and plant some more. It seems to be the only food she enjoyed.”
I stared at my communicator. Krauz. The female liked my krauz. A strange warmth bloomed within my chest. I’d h
and-reared every single plant on board. They were a labour of love and now she was eating them. It was so perfect.
If that was what she wanted to eat, then I’d make sure that she had as much of it as she desired. I’d fill the entire ship with grow pods, if that’s what it took.
I grinned and left my room. I had some gardening to do.
Wren
My bladder was getting uncomfortably full. I almost craved the pot I’d had on the Athion ship. Here, I had nothing to pee in. The water bottle, maybe, but that would have made quite the mess. Guys had it so much easier. If I’d had a dick, it would have been a simple matter of aiming and pissing. Much harder as a woman.
I took a deep breath. The alien had been quiet since talking to the other one, but I hadn’t heard him leave.
“Hello?”
“Yes,” he replied immediately, eagerness echoing in his voice. “What do you need? Would you like more food? Water?”
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I muttered, both embarrassed and scared. The Trad could easily take this opportunity to drop his pleasant façade and do what he’d wanted to do from the start. I was healed now, and no longer hungry, so it was the perfect time for him to turn on me. Abuse me like the Athions. Turn me into their slave. Their breeder. That was what all the Trads wanted, after all. A womb for their babies.
“Is it not working?” he asked, confusing me.
“What?”
“What?” He laughed. “I think something is getting lost in translation.”
“Yes, I believe so. I need you to take me to the bathroom.”
“But there’s one in your room.”
I looked around me. There definitely wasn’t. A bed, some cupboards and shelves, a table and chairs were all I had. No toilet.
“Where?” I asked, feeling increasingly stupid. At least that was better than feeling scared.
“Is it alright to come in and show you?”
I hesitated for a moment. No, it wasn’t, but I really needed to pee. “Okay.”
“I’m coming in. Don’t be scared.” His voice sounded pained.
I was still in my fort, but I got up when the door opened. My body was strung, ready to run.
He entered slowly, his hands held up in a universal gesture of peace. His amber eyes were fixed on me, but I didn’t sense any hostility from him.
“I forgot you humans aren’t used to space travel,” he muttered and pointed at the wardrobe. “That’s the bathroom. I’ve got it set to open to your fingerprint only. Vuk and I can’t enter. I thought that would make you feel safer.”
I stared at the wardrobe. It went all the way up to the rose gold ceiling, with two narrow doors meeting in the middle. That was the bathroom?!
“The scanner is here on the right.” He indicated a tiny panel that I hadn’t even noticed. “You just put your finger on it and then the doors open. I can’t show you because as I said, it won’t accept my fingerprint…”
His voice trailed off and he looked at me, visibly uncomfortable. “Do you want to try it?”
Yes, but to do that, I’d need to go where he was, close to the alien, and I’d rather wet my clothes than do that voluntarily.
“Ah. Yes. I’ll leave. Shout if you need something. There’s a shower in there too. Just stand inside and press the blue button. It will adjust automatically.”
He turned and slowly walked out of the room, his shoulders drooping. If he hadn’t been a Trad, I’d felt sympathy for him. But he was a Trad. A monster. This was all just pretend for him.
As soon as the door had closed behind him, I rushed to the non-wardrobe and put my finger where he’d shown me. A red light flashed against my skin and then the doors opened, folding inwards automatically.
A small but clean bathroom awaited me. A toilet that looked almost like our human ones except that it was higher and stood in the middle of the room, not against the wall. A washing basin was to my left, but I couldn’t see a shower, just a few buttons on the wall opposite.
The doors fell shut behind me and I jumped as a bright light switched on above me. My bladder pushed me towards the toilet and I sighed in relief as I finally got to relieve myself.
As soon as I sat up, the flush activated. Nice. But how was the shower going to work? Now that there was a possibility of washing myself, I really craved a shower. They'd cleaned me up in the medical room so that I wasn't covered in blood anymore, but even the thought of what had happened to me made me feel all icky and dirty. Hesitantly, I undressed, keeping an eye on the door just in case the Trad had lied about not being able to open it.
He'd mentioned a blue button and yes, there was one, but where was the shower? No shower head, no openings in the ceiling for water to come from. Only one way to find out.
I pressed the button. The room started vibrating and my mouth dropped open as the toilet disappeared into the floor. A panel slid over the hole, a drain in the centre. So that was where the shower water was going to dissipate to - but where was it going to come from? I was given the answer when a noise above me signalled another panel moving. A large shower head lowered from the ceiling, almost as wide as my shoulders. Then heaven began. Water as soft as spring rain, but perfectly warm. My muscles relaxed instantly, the water draining away all the tension I'd been harbouring.
I closed my eyes and simply enjoyed the moment. With the door locked and no sounds from the outside, I could almost imagine being in a spa somewhere on Earth. After a couple of minutes of just standing there, a new scent filled the air, something fresh and clean. I ran a hand through my hair and foam touched my skin. There was soap or shampoo in the water, gentle enough not to sting my eyes. I washed my hair and body, keeping my eyes closed so I didn't see the bruises mottling my skin. The more I scrubbed, the better I felt. I was washing away the Athions' touches, their hungry looks, their violence. Even though I was still sore in places, I was meticulous, cleaning every inch of my body.
As soon as I was done, the scent disappeared, and the water went back to normal. I wanted to marry this shower. So perfect.
I stayed there for a few more minutes, not wanting this moment of relaxation to end. Back home, the water always turned cold after a while, so I was used to having quick showers. I'd have thought that conserving water was necessary on a spaceship, but the shower stayed on, so I didn't ponder on it any further. If it annoyed the aliens, even better.
When my skin started to get a little too wrinkly, I pressed the blue button again. The water stopped and was replaced by bursts of hot air without warning. It was like I was standing beneath a giant vent. My hair dried quicker than I'd have thought possible. By the time the airflow stopped, I was perfectly dry, better than any towel could have done. My hair was surprisingly smooth, considering I hadn't brushed it. This alien technology really wasn't bad. The only thing I was missing was a razor. Not that I bothered shaving my legs most of the time, since I never wore dresses or shorts any longer. I didn't want to tempt any Trads hiding on Earth.
And just like that, my moment of imagined safety was over. Trads. Not just on Earth, but outside this very door. For all I knew, the alien could be waiting there for me to come out, clean and no longer smelly. Perfect for a little fun with the human slave. I shuddered and stepped back until I was pressed against the wall, as far away from the door as I could be.
They were waiting for me. I was still a prisoner, even though my mind had given me a few minutes of escape. I wished it hadn't bothered. It was worse now, being pulled back into the cold embrace of reality. Now that I was fed and washed, there'd be no holding back for them. They'd do what all Trads did: use me as their breeder. I'd become a living, walking womb for their offspring. They'd feed me and keep me healthy, but at what price? I couldn't do it. Surviving wasn't worth everything.
I looked up at the showerhead. Tonya had died in a bathroom. Maybe it was time for me to do the same.
Chapter 10
Rafaz
The shower had stopped a while ago, but the female was stil
l locked inside the bathroom. How long did her kind take to make themselves presentable? For us Trads, it was a matter of drying off and that was it. Our females had sometimes polished their scales, but this human didn't have those. Her skin was soft and smooth; far too delicate yet beautiful. Every time I saw her, I wanted to lick that skin, taste her, test if she felt as good as she looked. Of course, that would have scared her to bits. Maybe in future, once she got to trust us.
I tapped my communicator. “Everything alright?”
“I’ve got my hands in dirt,” Vuk grunted. “It’s great.”
I chuckled. He really was a savage at heart. “Are you happy you no longer have to eat that green stuff on your own?”
“Not my fault your palate is underdeveloped. How’s our female doing?”
“She’s having a very long shower. I’m getting bored.”
“Do humans need a lot of hygiene?”
“Your bet is as good as mine. The shower has been off for a while, but maybe she’s tending to her mane.”
“It’s a beautiful mane,” he muttered longingly. “Imagine what it would feel like to ran your fingers through it.”
“I already did that,” I admitted. “While she was unconscious.”
“You did not.”
I shrugged before realising he couldn’t see me. “I couldn’t resist and she didn’t know anyway.”
“Was it as silky as it looks?”
“Better. Like the fur of a ko’li, but longer. Human males really are blessed.”
“None of them are here to take her from us. We’ve got a chance to make her claim us as her mates. We just have to be careful about it. She’s fragile.”
I grit my teeth. “Those blue kraktz. They broke her.”
“And we’re going to put her back together. Slowly. Gently. We need to give her time. Is she still in the shower?”
“She is. Think I should knock? Maybe she needs something and is too shy to ask.”
Silence. A deep breath. “Do it.”
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