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First, she’d had to tell her parents she was leaving Earth to live on an alien world. Her mother nearly went into meltdown, fretting about everything under the sun. Her circumspect dad was frugal with his questioning. She hoped he was proud of her, but she suspected he’d read between the lines of her relationship with Jamen. However, he said nothing during her brief visit home that suggested she should not go. He felt her excitement in her hurried words of explanation—an edited version as she refrained from talking about the intimacy she shared with her new boss.
She’d completed her last exam, passed it, and graduated. Unfortunately, she would miss the ceremony, but that also meant she would avoid another encounter with Nillson, who would be presenting the awards. Katie, who was not the best person with whom to have deep conversations about the reasons why she was going to an alien world, decided to throw a party for her and a few friends.
Katie didn’t handle emotion very well. “I’m gonna miss you!” a drunk Katie had cried buckets in front of the select gathering, which rather put a damper on the evening.
The real battle went on behind the scenes and only she and Jamen knew the details. He had to convince the imperial agents on Earth that employing a human was a good move for diplomacy, while she had to wait for the Earth’s Defense Council to make a decision in time for her departure to Halos. They sent two officious men to interview her. She glossed over the finer details of the role of a hanjin. She was going to be Jamen’s adjutant, she repeated several times. As for their hints of spying for the EDC, she flatly refused. She’d made that mistake with Nillson; she wasn’t going to do it again.
Jamen had fed her information to give the mayor. It wasn’t exactly spy stuff and Nillson tried to wheedle more out of her. She held her ground this time. Not because of her relationship with Jamen, but because she believed she could stand up to the man. She wasn’t going back to the Bow and Tie, and if he had evidence of her visits, he would have to explain why he knew about them. He backed off, especially when the EDC granted her permission to go to Halos, and the Vendu emperor personally approved of Jamen’s request.
With everything set to go, she’d hastily packed a few personal items, and joined Jamen on the start of an amazing journey across the galaxy. First, to the continent once known as Australia, which was now a Vendu colony surrounded by a protective shield, and from there they had taken a space shuttle to a huge ship that could navigate the wormhole. The scary part was going into stasis—a long sleeping tube. Jamen had held her hand as she’d drifted into a dreamless sleep. When the ship had emerged from the wormhole, she’d woken up to find him still holding her hand, as if he had been throughout the three-month trip. He hadn’t, of course; he’d slept in his own tube.
Sleeping with him had been the highlight of the two weeks they had together on Earth. She had spent every night in his hotel suite. He had invited her to his bed and she’d gone willingly. Together they explored each other’s bodies and he had continued to prove to her that Vendu dominance was more than a fantasy. What it wasn’t though was love, at least not as far as the things they said to each other. No romantic overtures or candlelit dinners—that wasn’t her way anyway and clearly wasn’t his. What fed their sex was a stronger passion and she knew it was her submissive qualities that attracted him above all else. That was okay, she decided. Because in a year’s time, she would have to let go of him and return to Earth. She couldn’t afford the emotional wrench of falling in and out of love with an alien. She was just his hanjin, not a girlfriend, and she was going to find out exactly what that role entailed.
“So, we’ll land on Halos?”
“No. This is an orbiting craft. We’ll dock with a space port and go down in a shuttle.”
“To the capital?”
He said something in Vendu—the city’s name. He smiled. “Just call it the capital. That will do until you learn to speak Vendu.”
The orbiting station rotated around a central hub. She watched mesmerized as the structure came closer. Only when the ship had docked was it safe to leave the spacecraft.
“Somebody will collect our luggage and send it on,” he reassured her when she asked about her things.
They joined other travelers from Earth—soldiers, students, and many who traded with other Vendu on Earth. They joined the lines of queues, patiently waiting to have their palms and retinas scanned. T
hen, they moved over the threshold and onward to their journey. Jamen guided her through the process. Her details had arrived in advance and he didn’t anticipate any problems, which proved correct.
There was nothing especially odd about the spaceport. It functioned as a way station with a throng of people milling about and a constant a hum of low voices.
“Where do we go next?” She couldn’t understand the signs—she’d still much to learn in a short time.
“This way.” He led her along a quieter passageway. A door spun open, revealing a shiny white atrium that was sparsely furnished. One solitary man occupied a position behind a desk. He rose to his feet and greeted Jamen.
They talked, glancing at her from time to time. Jamen sighed heavily, then nodded. “It is time for your medical exam.”
She gaped in disbelief. He’d not mentioned it before. “What? Medical? Why?” She bombarded him with questions. Her stomach, which had only just stopped feeling nauseous, now was churning with trepidation.
“You should really go into quarantine for a few months. But I managed to convince the medical authorities that an extensive medical will validate your healthy status.” He spoke so matter-of-factly that it irked her. She wasn’t in the mood for a medical exam. Why couldn’t they do it on the planet when she had rested and acclimatized?
“Now?” she snapped in frustration.
Jamen took her elbow and propelled her toward a door. “Come on. It won’t be painful.”
Behind the door was a very different kind of room. She recognized one obvious feature—an examination table, which was padded and central to the room. Above it, a machine of some kind with long outstretched arms and lights illuminating the bed beneath it. She froze on the threshold. By the side of the table were two men, both dressed entirely in white, their noses and mouth covered by a breathing mask, their hands gloved and hair covered by a mesh. They reminded her of laboratory scientists in a sterile room. She turned on her heel and started to walk out of the room.
Chapter Seven
“Stay,” Jamen barked. She halted, her hands clenching into balls. “There is nothing for you to fear. It’s a standard examination.”
She pointed a trembling finger at the two medics. “Done by them? They look macabre.”
Jamen’s forehead furrowed. “They are professionals,” he said. “Do not disrespect them.”
She stomped back into the room and the door whirred shut behind her. She felt enclosed, even in the large room, and so vulnerable. She had no reason to doubt Jamen, but why hadn’t he mentioned anything about a medical?
“What are they going to do to me?” She folded her arms across her chest. She was hyped on adrenaline, and not in a good way. She recognized the signs, the spiraling sense of losing control.
