Another minute passes, and I start to get hungry. I fight the growing rumbles, wanting whatever commotion I’ve caused to simmer down. When I can’t tolerate the hunger any longer, I get to my feet.
“I would like something to eat now. Could you call my security guard, please?”
“Please make yourself comfortable while I contact him.”
I walk to the window and look out at the vast array of ships docked at each end of the complex. The female hangars boast simpler ships, more uniform, and many of the same Terran designs.
For a few moments, I wonder what it’s like to have so much money and power that they can hire people to protect them. I guess that’s all that makes us worthwhile anymore: money and power. It must be why I am always alone. No one wants to join me or my cause.
No onecaresanymore.
At the other end of the facility is an array of colorful ships, massive vessels with swooping ailerons, powerful and precisely adjustable engines, and radiant body lights. They come in every shape, from angry porcupines to shards of dark glass and evenone that looks like a bundle of snakes the way it billows out from a rippling center and flares into thin tails at the end.
It’s a curious sight, even if I don’t benefit from it. Many species have come to our homeworld. I wish I could learn from them all. Part of me wonders if this awe was what the Sol Federation felt at their first meeting with all the nations where they formed their alliance.
I wish they were here for me. I wish someone cared about me for once. Not my father’s plunder or the potential of my uterus. Just gave a damn aboutme.
I don’t understand. Why, Mom?“Why the fuck am I here?”
“Zariah. Your guard is outside.”
I thank the AI, not because I have to but because it’s polite. Then I walk to the door and check the screen. I don’t see him outside. “Are you sure?”
“He is to your right.”
“Uh, okay. Thanks.” I crack the door, unsure how this works. I’ve never had a guard, not formally. “Hello?”
A gloved hand opens in front of me as if to hold me back. His voice is a quiet rasp. “Wait.”
After a moment, his hand disappears. “You are clear to exit.”
10: Elix
Watching Zariah run across the fields and into the trees made my blood simmer. She is strong, thoughtful about her path, and pays attention to her surroundings. When she slid under the ropes course and popped up on the other side just to avoid the Talhuskin tracking her, my body begged me to snatch her up, make her mine, and shield her from all the others that crawled the fields. It was a nightmare to watch.
The aliens became savages, fighting one another over the blue-banded, the pinks, and the most precious female in the universe. They tackled one another, turning into snarling fights like rabid Earth wolves, clobbering each other like starvedomenotau of my homeworld.
A small, wrinkled hand clutches mine. When I look over at her, I see Rosy’s eyes on the sky.
Zariah leaves the trees in the grasp of a Talhuskin.
“Wing breach!” she shouts as loud as a 200-year-old person can.
I rest my free hand on the glass, fearing what he plans to do with her. One wrong move could tear her delicate body into pieces.
A team of techs turns their attention to Zariah and the Talhuskin.
“Locked on,” a woman says.
Another “Pickup drones inbound.”
A puff of green smoke pops in the Talhuskin’s path. He changes course. But it isn’t until another of his kind crashes into him that he releases Zariah.
Rosy’s hand grabs mine harder as my Protected one falls. Even Rosy fears the limitations of the system they built.
A gasp evades my control. But I am helpless. “Let me out.”
I know I will be too slow. But I have to try, or I’ll never forgive myself.
