The more she heard about the people she would be living with, the less she liked the whole situation, but there wasn’t much she could do about it.
The men chatted a few more minutes about the storm and how it was affecting their farms before they ended the call.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to go check a few things. Make yourself at home. I’ll see you at night,” he told her as if he was suddenly in a hurry to leave.
She knew she should have accepted his suggestion and stay inside, away from him, but she couldn’t. She had realized she only had a couple of days to be with the man next to her and though she wasn’t sure about her feelings, all her instincts were yelling at her to grab every chance she had to be with him. “Would you take me with you?” she asked, startling him.
“With me? You mean, to the barns, to check on the cattle?” he asked, clearly surprised with her suggestion.
“Yes, that’s right. If you don’t mind, of course. I would love to see how things are done here,” she explained, using half-truths.
“It’s cold outside,” he tried to dissuade her, but she was determined.
“I have a winter jacket I’m sure will protect me,” she assured him.
He was looking at her as if she had lost her mind, but she didn’t care. She wanted to be with him, even if that meant freezing outside.
“Very well, if you’re sure, I’ll take you,” he finally accepted.
“I’ll put on my winter jacket and my boots,” she ran out of the room, not giving him the chance to change his mind.
Vrak watched her leave the room and sighed. Why would she want to go out in the cold with him? He could tell she hadn’t like the news Kahm had given her about Sumitera and people on it, despite her effort to hide it, but there wasn’t much he could do about it either.
She had to know what she was getting into when she accepted to become a mail-order bride.
She returned a couple of minutes later wearing a jacket that wouldn’t protect her from the cold outside, and he opened his mouth to tell her so, but then, he decided not. Perhaps, that way she would return to the house faster and he would be able to continue with his plans – staying away from her as much as possible.
He guided her to a small vehicle parked in front of the house and soon they were on their way to the first barn. The place was huge, but the minute she saw the animals inside, she understood why.
Larger than an elephant, probably twice the size of one, these creatures were similar to the mammoths that had wandered planet Earth several thousand years ago, only these ones didn’t have the tusks or the trunk.
“They are amazing,” she said, as she walked along the hallway looking at the beasts ruminating their food. “How many do you have in here?” she asked, not able to see the end of the barn.
“There are a thousand crits in each barn, and I have twenty barns. Due to their size, it’s hard to have more than that. I would need a ranch three times bigger than this one,” he explained.
“It’s plenty. Which products do you take from them?” she asked, curious.
“We use absolutely everything. Nothing goes to waste, and we only use the meat when the crit has reached their estimated lifetime. It’s when their meat gets the exact flavor customers look for,” he explained, as he walked along the hallway with her.
“How many people do you have helping you?” she asked, amazed. It was by far the biggest ranch she had ever seen.
“I only have twenty employees. The rest of the help comes from the androids I bought when I got here. They follow orders, and they can be programmed to react on their own in certain circumstances, but they cannot improvise. When you’re dealing with living beings, you need to be able to improvise, because they will surprise you.”
“They certainly will.”
“Androids do the hard work, and my men keep an eye on everything. There’s one in each of these barns.”
As if Vrak had called him, a man showed up on the other side of the hallway. He was big and strong, but not as big as Vrak and judging by his greenish skin, he belonged to another species.
“Hi, boss. Everything is alright in here, but the storm doesn’t seem to want to fade away,” the man said when they met.
“Yes, I believe so. Bulk, allow me to introduce you to my guest, citizen Aliyah. She will be staying with us for a few days.”
The man nodded. “Greetings, citizen Aliyah,” he said.
“Greetings, citizen Bulk,” she replied. Used to greeting all people with a hands shake, she found it hard to remember people in these lands didn’t like touching strangers.
He turned to look at Vrak. “There isn’t much to do here. The crits are fed and have enough to drink. I’ll come to check on them in a couple of hours. The androids will be patrolling regularly,” he informed his boss.
“Perfect, keep me informed,” he asked, and they turned around to leave the barn.
Once outside, he guided her to the vehicle once more and soon they were in the next barn. It took them a couple of hours to check them all and other than a few minor problems he solved with his men, things were working smoothly.
“You have a great place here,” she told him when they were on their way back to the house.
The wind was blowing hard, and the small vehicle was having trouble staying on track. After a particularly strong wind gust, that almost flipped them over, Vrak cursed and changed his course to a small construction, not far from them, quite similar to an igloo, especially covered with snow.
“We’ll have to stay here for a while. The wind is too strong,” he warned her as he stopped the vehicle in front of the small building.
“What’s this place?” she asked, with a slight frown.
“A shelter. We’re a few miles away from the main house and my men’s housings. This place is used as a shelter in times like this when the storm is too strong to allow you to get back to the main house,” he explained. “Though you could use the barns, in case of an emergency, you wouldn’t find food or a bed in there,” he added.
“Oh, I see, that’s very thoughtful,” she said, with a smile that quickly faded away when the vehicle trembled under the strength of another wind gust.
“We need to get inside,” he rushed her and just a few moments later, they were closing the door behind them.
The place was quite basic, with one single room and the bathroom in the corner. There was only a bed, a couch, and a small kitchen area, with a stove, a fridge, and a few cabinets. He was checking them when she joined him in there.
“Well, we won’t starve to death,” he said after confirming the cabinets had all they might need.
“What about your men?” she asked, a bit concerned.
“They should be back in their housings by now. Remember, we were the last ones leaving.”
“Do you think this could last a long time?” she asked, not sure she wanted to stay in a place so small with a man that set her heart beating at a frantic pace.
“I have no idea. We’ll have to wait,” he replied, and by the look on his face, he wasn’t very pleased with the situation either.
“Couldn’t you call one of your men to come and pick us up?” she asked. “You must have some other kind of vehicle, capable of withstanding this weather.”
“Yes, I do, but we only used them in case of a real emergency,” he explained, with a cold tone. “This isn’t one. We’re sheltered, and there’s enough food and drink to last us a whole moon’s rotation if need be.”
“Of course, you’re right,” she agreed, feeling the heat coloring her cheeks. He probably thought she was a spoiled brat, unable to think of other people’s safety.
He let out a loud sigh. “We’ll be fine,” he assured her. “You must be hungry by now, so I’ll prepare something for us.”
Aliyah got rid of her jacket and her heavy boots. The air in the small cabin was warm enough by then. “Why don’t you allow me to do that? It will keep me busy for a while,” she suggested, eager to have something to keep her mind away from the fact they were all alone in that small room.
“By all means. My cooking is only good enough to stop me from starving,” he said, walking away from the kitchen area. “I’ll contact the main house and let them know we’re alright.”
She nodded, and after checking the food available, she started cooking, hoping things weren’t that different from back home. Fortunately, the food was either canned, frozen or dried, and they all came with instructions.
Clearly, she couldn’t read the hieroglyphics they called words, but she was sure Vrak would be able to help her with that.
She chose some canned vegetables, something that looked a lot like rice and she took some roasted meat from the freezer.
She turned to look at him. He had finished talking with Asim and was looking out the small window. The night had fallen by now, so there wasn’t much to look at.
“Do you think you could read these instructions for me?” she asked him, pointing to the food she had selected.
“Yes, sure.” He read the labels for her, and she quickly prepared a meal that looked quite delicious.
“Would you like some juice to accompany the food?” he asked, pulling a bottle out of the freeze.
“That’s just juice?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
“As far as I know, yes,” he replied, intrigued with her question.
“Then, yes, I would love some,” she said, with a smile. She had a very low tolerance for alcohol. She had lost her virginity the first night she had gone out drinking with some college friends. Apparently, alcohol erased all her moral restrictions and turned her into a very lustful woman, according to her friends’ stories. She hadn’t tried a drop of alcohol ever since.
He poured two glasses of a golden liquid, and they took a seat at the table to eat.
The food was delicious, more than you would expect from canned food and the juice was quite refreshing. It wasn’t sweet, but it tasted really good, and she took a couple of glasses during the meal.
By the end of it, she was feeling relaxed.