“Give me the status of the females,” I demanded into my communications device.
“We’re still missing one.”
“Just one?” I sighed. It would be difficult; the suns were beginning to set, leaving the planet in darkness. The Thressl’n had a unique handicap in the dark, as we primarily received our sustenance from the suns. Our eyes were good, but in the dark, if we weren’t wearing special glasses, then our field of vision would suffer. It made navigation in space difficult, but as Commander of the Fleet, I had been given a specialized surgery that improved my night vision.
“Just one.”
“Do you know what she looks like?” I asked.
“Human?” Jenar’d said incredulously. I glowered. Many of the Thressl’n liked to joke that all humans looked the same, but I had just discovered how untrue that could be.
My mind wandered back to the female I had locked eyes with during the march to the camps, and my hearts thudded. The fact was that I had never seen anybody so beautiful before. Thressl’n women had their own charm, it was true, but I had never wanted to settle down and mate with any of them.
I figured I was doing the world a favor, leaving more women to the more worthy men on my planet. The gender disparity that had been caused by the preference of Thressl’n males over the past few centuries had left our race in dire straits. Without more females, our species was going to be extinct over the next couple of generations.
It was lucky that Commander Zerk’k Arkti had come up with such a clever solution, and had called for the retrieval of several females from Earth. It served a dual purpose; it would protect the females from the looming threat of the Vellreq, and provide Jenal’k with genetically compatible material to ensure the survival of our species.
“Come out, female,” I pleaded quietly into the foliage. Of all places for a human to get lost in, the wild forests of Mount Zennith seemed to me to be the worst. I was already freezing cold, and there were many wild creatures living here that could be dangerous. If we lost a precious human female, it would be my fault.
A sudden shriek met my ears as I stumbled over something beneath my feet, and I caught myself before falling. Despite my surgery, my vision was still often impaired in the darkness. I glared down to see what had caused my imbalance.
My irritation melted away when I saw the same face as that of the human I had met eyes with earlier. Her hair was dark, black in the night, and her clear hazel eyes flashed with anger.
“Watch where you’re going!” she cried at me. “You could have broken my ankle!”
I backed away from her dubiously. “My apologies.”
The spark that had been there the first time I’d seen her was gone. Now, we were both surly and agitated.
“Come,” I said, lifting her by her elbow. She got to her feet unhappily, the sour look on her face deepening as I led her away from her resting place. “We have to get you to the camps.”
“I’m not going anywhere! Especially not with you!”
She struggled against me, but her efforts were futile. It was clear to both of us that I was the physically superior of the two of us.
I sighed.
“You have no choice in the matter. Come willingly, or I will force you to oblige.”
The human opened her mouth once again to protest, but ultimately allowed me to lead the way back to the camps where she belonged.
***
“Supreme Leader Aloitus is calling a meeting. You are expected to come immediately.”
I cringed at the terse voice of Captain Zod on the other end of my communications device.
“I understand; thank you.”
It took a moment before he released the button, making me anxious that he wasn’t going to let me go that easily. But the click finally came, and I sighed in relief. The truth was that I couldn’t stand Captain Zod. He had always been an arrogant, insufferable man. To make matters worse, he was also a social climber and had somehow wriggled his way into the heart of the Supreme Leader.
Despite our ranks being decided at birth, fate being one of the most highly revered concepts in Thressl’n society, Zod was hungry for power, and he got it by getting chummy with Aloitus. I knew I couldn’t be the only one who saw it.
“Chaz’z, how nice of you to join us!” Zod exclaimed when I walked through the doors of the meeting room in the palace.
“Captain,” I said, stressing his rank meaningfully. Zod glowered at me and sat down in his chair, casting a dark look at the Supreme Leader. Aloitus was too preoccupied to notice, however, and continued looking through the documents in front of him.
I took my place at the oval-shaped table, my eyes briefly scanning the room. The men who had piloted all five of the ships to Earth were in attendance. There was
“Gentlemen, many thanks for your attendance today, and for your hard work in retrieving the females from Earth,” Supreme Leader Aloitus finally said, discarding the reports and pursing his lips in an attempt at a smile. The gesture didn’t suit him.
“Greetings, Supreme Leader Aloitus,” our small group chorused. Aloitus smiled now, more earnestly, though it still wasn’t much of an improvement.
“I understand we had a bit of a problem with the females last night,” Aloitus said, turning his dark eyes on me. My hearts thudded, but there was no reason for me to be afraid. I was the third most powerful man on the planet Jenal’k, whether Aloitus and Zod liked it or not.
“Yes,” I acknowledged. “The females were not as subdued as they appeared and attempted to flee.”
“That seems dangerous, does it not?” Aloitus said, by way of reprimanding me.
“Sir, with all due respect, I designed the camps with this possibility in mind,” General Rog L’ankast interjected. “It seems that human resistance would be an inevitability. It has nothing to do with Commander Wyl’es’ judgment.”
“Was it not Captain Zod who suggested keeping the human females drugged until their arrival to Earth?” Aloitus said sweetly. “Does it not appear that this suggestion was ultimately the one acted upon in the best interests of Thressl’n and human alike?”
“It was I,” Zod said quickly, fixing a smug look on me.
“Commander Wyl’es, you insisted on doing things your own way, and it nearly cost us human females.”
“Sir, as I said, it would not have cost any females. The camps were designed to—”
“Silence, Rog! Before I have you thrown in the holding chamber!”
Rog paled and sat back in his seat, casting an apologetic glance at me. I nodded, as imperceptibly as possible, in forgiveness. I appreciated Rog stepping in. It was clear he didn’t think highly of Supreme Leader Aloitus and his relationship with Captain Zod.
“The holding chamber seems more like Chaz’z’s place, if you ask me,” Zod said, grinning. He was loving the drama. Zod’s smug expression made me even angrier than being interrogated by Aloitus.
“I didn’t ask you, Zod,” Supreme Leader Aloitus said coldly. The smug smile fell from Zod’s face, and he grew quiet. It was nice to know that Aloitus still had some grasp of the real rank here.
“I apologize for my actions, Supreme Leader,” I said. “I saw to it that all the females were relocated and assigned to a higher security camp than their peers.”
My memory of the beautiful female I had literally stumbled upon invaded my memories again. There was something about her that spoke to the loneliness deep inside of me. I wanted to protect her. Maybe even to claim her. Still, it seemed strange to me that upon relocating her, all traces of our initial connection had gone.
“That’s all I needed to hear,” Aloitus said, his horrific attempt at a smile returning to his face. “Now I wanted to announce that I am still working on assigning females to Thressl’n men. Mostly nobility and a few men who were chosen in a lottery, to give homage to Fate, of course. What many of you may be wondering, especially after seeing these exotic little beauties for yourselves, is whether or not my elite fleet will be allowed to get their dirty little hands on these Earth females. Am I right?”
Aloitus grinned, and I felt sick to my stomach. Why did he have to word it in such a base way?
“I would like my female as soon as possible,” Zod said, without waiting to hear an answer. “When may I pick her up?”
Aloitus didn’t acknowledge him.
“I want each of you to pick the female of your choice. Of course, I know one or two of us who have already gotten the pick of the litter.”
Aloituz winked at Commander Arkti, who squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
“You can choose your females from any of the camps,” Aloitus continued. “And bring her to your homes immediately. The rest of the Thressl’n will have to be more patient and undergo the grueling process of learning how to woo their mates and get them in the mood to breed. Without breeding consent, we are the same as beasts. But I know I can trust the five of you.”
We were quiet for a moment as Aloitus cleared his throat and finally stood.
“You are dismissed.”
Zod shot through the doors, and I frowned. Something wasn’t right with that man. But I quickly forgot his strange actions as my thoughts returned to the female from the day before. A dull excitement began mounting in my breast. The way she had looked at me had replayed in my mind again and again as I attempted to sleep off the excitement the night before. If I had to choose a female, I might as well choose the one I couldn’t get out of my mind.
***
“Right this way,” a stern Thressl’n woman said, leading me deep into Camp 6. “Nobody has shown an interest in any of the females in this camp. They are all defiant. Why would you choose to have a defiant female as a mate?”
“That really isn’t your concern,” I said darkly, my eyes scanning the rows of beds. Many were empty. Camp 6 had been constructed as an area for the trouble-makers. It seemed likely that anybody who ended up in this high-security camp would make a terrible mate. The Thressl’n highly valued cooperation and subordination in the females on Jenal’k. Defiant Earth women seemed unsuitable.
“I understand. Apologies to you.”
We continued down the rows in silence, until my eyes finally settled upon the beautiful woman from the night before. She looked a little different than I remembered her in my memories, and I thought that maybe I had simply contorted her image in my mind from conjuring it up so many times.
Still, the powerful energy that had been shared between us couldn’t be forged by a simple misremembrance. Whether she looked the same as in my memory or not, this was the woman I would bring to my home.
“It’s your lucky day,” the Thressl’n woman said, removing the gag from the woman’s mouth and releasing her hands and feet from their confines. “Commander Wyl’es has come to take you home.”
“To Earth?” the woman asked, sitting up with wide eyes.
“No, I’m afraid she means back to my home. In the Red Desert.”
“Seriously?!” the woman threw herself back against her pillow and glowered at me. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here!”
“You will go where I tell you to go,” I growled, grabbing her by the arm and helping her to her feet. “You’ve caused enough trouble already. And by the looks of it, I’ll be doing everyone here a favor by taking you off their hands.”
“What are you going to do to me?” she asked, her clear eyes wide. I gazed into them for a moment, desperate to find any trace of the spark that had been there initially. I was agitated when I found myself disappointed.
“I guess we’re both going to find out.”
***
“You don’t seriously expect me to stay in here, do you?” the human said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.
“What’s wrong with it?” I exclaimed.
“It’s so small! And it smells funny. Do you have anything bigger?”
“No, unless you feel like sharing my bedroom.”
“Ew. No. This will just have to do, I guess.”
I pursed my lips and retreated from the room.
“I expect you to listen and obey the rules of the house,” I called as I headed to the kitchen. “I have a keeper of house and home who comes by every afternoon, and she has promised to look after you while I’m away.”
“Are you gone a lot?” the human said hopefully.
I didn’t dignify it with an answer, and soon she came out from the bedroom I had assigned to her. Sure, it was a little cluttered, but I didn’t know what she meant about a smell. Were all humans this offensive?
“I’m hungry,” she said with a pout. “Since I’m basically your pet now, do you plan to feed and water me too?”
Pet?
“I don’t understand what you mean,” I said. “But I will prepare a meal now. I am also hungry.”
She sat down at the table glumly and I began to work in silence.
“Ew, what’s that?” she exclaimed when I opened a jar of O’klati.
“It’s good for you,” I said with a sigh. I had a feeling that I had made a huge mistake in choosing this human. And now we were stuck with each other for the rest of our lives. I didn’t even know her name.
“It smells weird.”
“Does everything smell weird to you?”
“No…don’t you guys have like, pizza or something?”
Everybody throughout the galaxy was vaguely aware of the pizza phenomenon that had taken over Earth. The food that humans willingly ate was poison, pure and simple, and yet they consumed it gleefully. Didn’t humans care about the truth? Did they even care about themselves? What had Commander Arkti been thinking when he chose to bring these self-destructive creatures here?
“We do not have pizza, and you are lucky that you don’t have it anymore either.” The human pouted, but I ignored it. “What’s your name, anyway?”
She was silent for a moment, and then halted herself before she spoke. It was strange, as if she were hoping to hide something.
“Sa…So, my name is Alexa,” she said, batting her eyes falsely at me. “When will the food be ready?”
“Now,” I sighed, and served Alexa the first meal we would share in my home.
***
“I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Zod was saying. “There’s something off about her. I just don’t like my human!”
I tried to tune him out as we stood in line together for tickets to the celebration that night. It was customary to thank the gods for the safe return of Thressl’n ships from space, and Supreme Leader Aloitus had chosen to move the festivities up earlier to coincide with Captain Zod’s delivery of the second batch of humans.
Usually the celebrations didn’t happen until about a week after everybody had settled in, safe and sound. Apparently, it only mattered if Zod was settled in. The fact that I had arrived first was more of a fluke.
“Aren’t they supposed to serve us? They are here to save the Thressl’n race, after all. You would think that they would show us some respect!”
“Yeah,” I agreed begrudgingly. The human I had selected had spent the entire night acting like every single thing I did to make her comfortable in my home was the biggest inconvenience that she could ever endure. “Humans are rude.”
“They’re more than just rude!” Zod exclaimed. “They are pure savages! Do you know the first thing my human said to me after I brought her home and tried to get her to sleep in my bed?”
“No,” I said noncommittally, disturbed by the idea that Zod would try to force his human to move so quickly. That was in poor taste, in my opinion. Still, even if she wanted to, I wasn’t sure I would let the human in my home share my bed after the night I’d had with her.
“She said that I was the most repulsive creature she had ever seen, and that she would rather die than be my mate. You know what else she said? She said that she felt sorry for me for thinking that everything worthwhile in life could be stolen!”
I pursed my lips in a strong effort not to laugh. The idea of anybody having the nerve to say things like that to Zod, of all people, who had been spoiled beyond repair and always cheated to get what he wanted, was frankly delightful.
“That human’s going to regret her choice of words though, by the time I’m through with her,” Zod said with a grin. “She spent the night in the cellar. Maybe I’ll starve her until she learns some respect.”
But I was cut off by the Thressl’n man in charge of the ticket booth, and Zod tuned me out as he collected his tickets to the banquet.
“I had been thinking of taking her with me to celebrate,” Zod said, walking away from me and shaking his head. “But she can forget that!”
I dissolved into silent laughter once Zod was safely at a distance, and exchanged a knowing look with the man behind the ticket counter. Zod was well-known for his hot temper and poor attitude. Nobody could fathom why the Supreme Leader had taken such a liking to him. In fact, it was alarming, and as much as I tried to stay positive, the truth seemed impossible to ignore. Corruption was in the air.
Unfortunately, I was Commander of the Fleet, and if anything did end up happening to shift the power in the Thressl’n government, chances were that my position would be highly compromised.
Not only was I already being stationed to lead the Thressl’n troops involved in the conflict at the far end of the C’loggh galaxy, but with overt tolerance of the Vellreq, my job would turn very dangerous.
The Thressl’n thought that we were fighting the Vellreq, but more and more it seemed that we were helping them to take over Kalron. Unfortunately, the Vellreq were winning in their quest for dominance, and their influence was spreading darkly throughout the universe.
I could only hope that somehow, we would stop the Vellreq in time, before any lasting damage could be done that might put an end to Thressl’n society once and for all.