“Surprise,” Sam said with a nervous laugh. My eyes widened when Chaz’z guided her roughly inside of Zod’s abode.
“I knew it,” I sighed, squeezing my eyes closed. Ever since Chaz’z had been to Zod’s home the week before, I had been worried that he found out our secret. But I thought that he would come for me sooner, or make a scene with Zod. “You told him.”
“Well, one of you had to!” Chaz’z exclaimed. “What would have happened if Zod found out first? Do either of you have any idea what kind of trouble you could get into? He has the Supreme Leader on his side! All of us could be killed for this!”
I glowered at the floor. It wasn’t bad enough that I had been assigned to the worst man ever to exist in any stage of the universe’s life; I also had to have this happen.
“I don’t want to hear any of your lies, Alexa. If that’s even your real name!”
“It is,” Samantha said cheerfully, glancing up from staring at her fingernails. “Her middle name is Anne.”
“Shut up!” I exclaimed to my twin. “You think Gayle is much better?!”
Sam stuck her tongue out at me, and I glowered, ready to strangle her with my bare hands. Living with Zod again had brought me to a level I never wanted to be in.
“There is only one way the two of you can make up for this without me turning you in to the Supreme Leader myself,” Chaz’z said, his eyes flashing at me. I felt a chill as he stared hard at me. He was much more angry with me than he was with Samantha, and I didn’t have to try very hard to see why.
“What do you want me to do?” I whispered, unable to meet his eye any longer. There was no use in trying to explain.
“This,” Chaz’z said, throwing something hard at me. I grimaced when it hit my shoulder and picked it up. It was the camera. “I need you to use this while you’re here.”
“What? I thought you said she was leaving with you!” Samantha whined. “I thought I’d get to stay with Zod. You’ve been such a cranky ass lately.”
“Well, I had a change of heart. I was thinking over the past week, and this is the only way that I will succeed. If you do not do your part in helping me uncover the scandal, then you are useless to me. Is that clear?”
His words stung more than anything I had ever endured before, and I squeezed my eyes closed as hot tears involuntarily fell to the floor.
“Do not manipulate me with your human emotions, female,” Chaz’z said, grabbing Sam’s arm and leading her toward the door. “This is your life at stake. You had best think twice before crossing a man like me again. I am Commander of the Fleet. You have no clue what I am capable of.”
I held the camera tightly, unable to speak. Before Chaz’z disappeared out the door, he turned his cold eyes on me one last time.
“I will be back soon for your progress. Do not disappoint me.”
“Okay,” I whispered weakly.
Sam cast me an unhappy look, and I shook my head in defeat. There was no way to fix things now. What had we done?
***
A few hours later, Zod returned to the house, and furrowed his brow.
“Was somebody here?” he asked suddenly.
“A commander and his female stopped by, but they left when they saw you weren’t here,” I said.
“I see,” Zod said. “Must have been Wyl’es. He’s been anxious to get to work on our next strategy. Was it the same guy who dropped in before?”
“Yes,” I said. In fact, Chaz’z was the only visitor I had ever seen to Zod’s home, other than his elderly housekeeper, of course. It was kind of sad in a way.
“He’s just going to have to get off his high horse and talk to the strategists themselves. I don’t know why he thinks it’s so important to talk to me about it.”
“I’m sure it’s because you are the most powerful of all of them,” I said smoothly. Stroking the ego was a great way to get Zod to open up about his exploits. Perhaps I would be able to get information out of him that way.
“Yes,” Zod agreed, smirking. “I’m excited about the progress we are making. Of course, the Vellreq may get in the way of our plans, but that is no matter.”
“Are the Vellreq those ugly guys that tell us what the weather is going to be like?” I asked, thankful for my dead-on Samantha impression.
Zod cackled. “Yes, dear.”
“What plans do they want to get in the way of? Can I help?”
“Oh, I’m afraid you would just get in the way,” Zod said, waving his hand dismissively at the thought of getting Sam involved. At least he had some common sense. “Besides, it’s far too dangerous. We’re competing for the resources on Kalron, the place I told you about, remember? Where I’m a celebrated war hero.”
“Of course,” I said, smiling brightly at him. “You kick those Kalron asses!”
Zod beamed at me. “Well, I do what I can to liberate inferior races of resources they cannot manage themselves. It is quite a unique skill.”
“How do you do that?” I asked coming closer to him, staring in what I hoped looked like an expression of wonder and excitement.
“Well, while the mooks are out fighting their little battles, I go to the planet and do some delegation.”
“Dele…what?”
Zod chortled and patted my leg fondly.
“I talk to the people of the planet. We try to do things in a civil matter. They are all so terrified of the guns and violence that they would say and do just about anything we ask them to if it means that the war will come to an end. The Vellreq know a lot about using fear to control others. That’s how they got their hands on your little planet.”
“Yeah, things we don’t understand are pretty scary,” I agreed.
“Indeed,” Zod said kindly. “And the Vellreq have been trying to colonize the Kalron long enough that they are just sick and tired of war. And it works out great for the Thressl’n, because they blame the Vellreq for the disasters and the people being killed. They trust us, not them. And the Vellreq understand this. They said if we colonize the planet and split the resources with them, we can maintain our rule there just as the Vellreq are doing on Earth. Isn’t that fantastic?!”
My stomach dropped. They were working with the Vellreq so that they could take over a planet of innocent people and use their planet for their own gain. Chaz’z wasn’t going to like this. But it was just spoken, there was no evidence I could photograph. I didn’t even have a way to record Zod’s voice. How was I going to get the information out to the Thressl’n masses?
“What’s the matter?” Zod asked, his voice suddenly hard. Apparently, I wasn’t basking in his joy enough.
“I just…I don’t really understand what you’re talking about,” I said, laughing airily. The anger in Zod’s face melted away, and soon he was laughing once again, petting my leg before he stood up.
“That’s all right, human. There is no need for you to understand. You will be safe so long as you are mine.”
He bowed courteously at me, the first time I had ever seen him bow to a lowly human before, before disappearing down the hall and into his chambers.
***
I woke up late that evening with a start, torn from a horrible dream that involved the wrath of Chaz’z. I had been begging him for forgiveness, and suddenly he had turned into Zod and was striking me until I was cowering in the corner. I was trembling when I awoke, and quietly slipped out of the huge bed I shared with Zod.
Right from the very beginning, Zod had insisted I sleep in the bed with him, but it seemed that he had little to no interest or understanding in sex and hadn’t tried anything unseemly with me. It was bizarre, as if the only way he got himself off was through violence. Or, perhaps, he was getting to like Sam enough to respect her boundaries.
Whatever the case, he was surprisingly courteous with me in that regard. He seemed simply to like having the company of a woman who adored him and praised him at every turn.
I had never felt more terrible in my life. My chest contracted in pain every time I thought of Chaz’z or remembered the intimate moments we had shared. I couldn’t blame him for being so angry. After all, I had betrayed him. I had lied. I could have told him the truth from the get-go, but I hadn’t. And then, when it counted the most, I had failed.
All because I was trying to help my stupid sister, who seemed to have it a lot easier in her situation with Zod than she was letting on when I spoke to her. Still, that didn’t mean he was a joy to be around. I guessed I had brought all of this misery upon myself. I couldn’t blame anyone for hating me.
I crept from the bedroom and into the kitchen, where I ate the leftovers of my fifth meal that day. The Thressl’n had huge appetites, that was for sure. I usually had a lot of food left over to work with. I hadn’t had to worry about starving since Sam had worked her magic on Zod. Now I had to worry I would offend him by not eating enough.
“Why aren’t you sleeping, female?” Zod asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he walked into the kitchen. “You woke me when you got up.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I guess I just miss Earth.”
I thought I was making it up on the spot, but it suddenly struck me just how true that was. I had been stolen from the only planet I had ever known right in the middle of the day. Sure, I had stumbled upon the truth about the Vellreq. The mysteries I had been trying to unravel for my own species were basically solved. But that didn’t mean I would be able to help any of them from the planet Jenal’k. In fact, I was powerless.
“Earth…what’s to enjoy about that little planet?” Zod asked, trundling to the fridge and getting himself a glass full of Yusha. “It’s a dismal little place. Aren’t you happy here with me?”
The question was so sudden and sincere that I felt put on the spot to answer it honestly. No, I wasn’t happy. But it seemed like Samantha had been growing fond of Zod. Maybe I should answer on her behalf.
“Sure, you’re great! You’re like a Thressl’n superhero or something. I just had friends on Earth too, you know. I’ll never see it again. It’s weird.”
“Who said you would never see it again?” Zod asked, surprised. “If the Vellreq leave it in once piece, we may return all the humans there once the hybrid children have been born. Wouldn’t you like that?”
“I guess so,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t see the falter in my smile. “Thank you. We should go back to sleep.”
“Of course,” Zod said, finishing his drink and leading the way to the bedroom. “Next time you miss Earth, try not to be so loud about it. I have work tomorrow.”
“Sorry, my lord,” I said.
We lay back down, and Zod was immediately asleep.
Still, I couldn’t get the hurt in Chaz’z’s eyes out of my head, and continued to toss and turn for the rest of the night.
***
“You can do this,” I whispered to myself.
The housekeeper had just left, and I was standing in front of the doorway to Zod’s study. He tried to keep the code private, but I had been walking by at just the right time every day to get a new number to the combination. I would do anything to get back in Chaz’z’s good graces.
I swallowed hard and typed in the key-code, terrified that if it didn’t work, a blaring alarm would go off and Zod would return home from work and severely punish me.
I was relieved beyond measure when my first attempt registered as successful, and I walked with shaking hands into the study room. My fingers gripped the camera tightly, and I studied it for the first time up close. At first, I had assumed it was like a polaroid, but I quickly realized that in fact, it was a highly advanced camera that could not only capture high-resolution images, but could also take video recordings.
It took me a few minutes of fumbling with the machine before I was able to work the settings, as the words were all written in Thressl’n, but I had always been skilled with language and had pieced together little bits of Thressl’n through careful study and observation.
“There,” I said, holding my camera firmly and walking toward Zod’s desk. If anything important was kept in Zod’s home, it would be here and not anywhere else in the house. This was where I would find the goldmine of information that would make Chaz’z happy again. I couldn’t let him down.
The desk was cluttered with papers, and I cursed, not knowing Thressl’n well enough to decipher which of the documents might be the most telling. I focused on trying to recognize just a few keywords, such as Vellreq and Kalron, snapping pictures blindly as I went through every document available on the desk and placing them back exactly as they had been before.
Next, I rummaged through the drawers, disturbed by some of the things I found inside of them, until I found a thick brown envelope marked confidential. Now that looked juicy.
I excitedly pulled the folder out of the drawer and spread the contents out carefully on the floor in front of me, taking pictures of each and every sheet. I hoped that it could be useful to Chaz’z. I was risking my life to get the information for him, after all. What good would it be if he didn’t forgive me?
I pursed my lips together. Why was I thinking like Sam? I didn’t need to do the right thing just because it would win the approval of the guy I liked. I needed to do the right thing because it was the right thing. Whether Chaz’z and I ever made up or not, I couldn’t let the people of Kalron suffer just because I was too cowardly to do my part in uncovering the horrible truth of their situation. It could very well be the same thing happening on Earth.
No matter what happened, what I was doing was important. And whether Chaz’z forgave me for my betrayal or not, that was what counted the most. Wasn’t it?
***
“Female, come!”
My heart lurched and I shoved my camera back into its hiding place, deep in a wad of human clothing that I left in the back of the drawer Zod had assigned me.
“Female!”
“Coming!” I cried, closing the drawer quickly. “Sorry, I was trying to find a good outfit to wear to surprise you, but I feel like I just have the three gowns.”
Zod appeared puzzled. “Do humans require more than three outfits?”
I snorted, knowing just how Samantha would react to that question. “A human can go through three outfits in a single day alone. I had a huge wardrobe on Earth! The envy of many other humans!”
“Well,” Zod said, smiling smugly. “It seems my female was quite a status symbol on her planet. How lucky I am to have chosen such an esteemed human.”
I smiled the way I thought my twin would have before I remembered to bow at him for coming home.
“Welcome home, my lord,” I said. I was starting to get used to bowing to him, but I hated it more and more every single time I did it. It was a strange combination of muscle memory and agitation.
“Thank you, female. I came to tell you not to eat your fifth meal. Commander Wyl’es and I are going to have a meal together at one of the most highly esteemed restaurants on Jenal’k, and you are to accompany me.”
I surge of panic coursed through me at the thought of enduring a dinner with Chaz’z. Even worse, what if he brought Sam along? Zod would be beside himself with fury.
“Are you sure humans are welcome in such a nice place?” I asked, trying to find any reason to get out of going. What was Chaz’z thinking, inviting us to go out with him? Or had it been the other way around? Surely Chaz’z would keep Sam at home. Unless he wanted to out our secret once and for all and punish me for all I had done.
“It is generally frowned upon for anybody without a Thressl’n pallet to attend, but being who I am, they won’t mind.”
Ah. So the reality was that Zod wanted to bring his female with him to gloat. If even the lower class Thressl’n couldn’t attend, what kind of a snub would it be for him to bring a lower class being from the opposite end of the universe and rub it in their faces? A person who couldn’t even begin to appreciate the subtleties of the Thressl’n cuisine?
“As always, you impress me, my lord,” I said, with another deep bow. “Please allow me to finish dressing myself. I’ll choose a different gown for the evening.”
Zod’s eyes sparkled, and I disappeared back into the bedroom, where I dressed quickly and tossed the camera into the handbag Sam had brought with her from Earth. It would be the only way to sneak out with it. Hopefully Zod wouldn’t say anything about it.
“Ready!” I said cheerfully.
Zod looked at the bag, his brow drawn, and my heart thudded in fear.
“All right,” he said finally. “Let’s get this over with.”