Chapter One

PRIYA

“I’m sorry about your test results.”

The lovely young blonde woman looked like she wished she could say something else. She must have already been approved to be one of the chosen women, which meant she wasn’t a carrier of the gene. Women weren’t allowed to work on any part of the project if they had it. She didn’t have to apologize for something she couldn’t control, and she didn’t know how helpless I felt.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.” Staring at the ground, I turned away and started walking, trying to move as quickly as I could in the direction of the upscale testing center’s glass doors. I knew she didn’t have anything personal against me, but I felt like she didn’t want me, either. It was just the way Jerry had rejected me because I wasn’t rich enough, wasn’t beautiful enough, and wasn’t good enough to be a doctor’s wife. Apparently, he needed someone who was better eye candy.

He had broken up with me in the blink of an eye after nearly a year of dating. It was a year of my life flushed down the toilet. Failing the test brought up uncomfortable feelings about Jerry. If I managed to leave this place within a minute or so, I might not burst into tears in front of everyone and embarrass myself.

I reached out to push the door, but it swung open before I could touch it. Someone came through it so quickly that he ran into me. I would have fallen on my ass if he hadn’t wrapped an arm around me and pulled me tightly against him.

I breathed in his scent as he held me a little longer than necessary. For some reason, I didn’t mind.

Who was this guy? I pushed him away and stepped back, looking up at his face. He was considerably taller than me, dirty blond, well-muscled, and unbelievably gorgeous. But he had almost knocked me over. I had to say something.

“You should watch where you’re going.” I was still upset about being rejected by the testing center, and I couldn’t help injecting some venom into my voice. My options at this point were either copping attitude or bursting into tears.

He had been staring at me, but his expression quickly turned into a frown. “I’m sorry. It was an accident.”

I shrugged. “Next time don’t burst through the door.”

“Maybe you should watch where you’re going. I caught you.” His brown eyes filled with heat.

I felt myself blushing in response. I was starting to get annoyed. “Excuse me, it’s a door. I’m trying to go through it.” He was still blocking my way with his big, beautiful body. He didn’t bother answering me. He stepped to the side, staring me down.

I heard the blonde’s cheerful voice behind me. “Allex, is that you?” I twisted my head as I went through the door and saw Allex hug and kiss her on the cheek.

“Who else would it be? Are you finished for the night?” His voice was happier now. The woman was probably his girlfriend.

“Yep, she’s the last one.”

I pushed my way out the door without looking back, wiping furiously at my eyes. All my hopes were being dashed today, but no matter how bad the news was, I wasn’t going to burst into tears at the testing facility in front of those people.

It had been stupid to hope I could fly off into the stars as part of the test to see if human women were compatible with the Auxem. It was childish to want to leave Earth in the first place. My middle-class family would never be able to afford to buy a ticket on a starship.

But I had dreams. I wanted to leave my overcrowded planet and have a fresh start somewhere. I wanted a new adventure. Nothing of the sort was going to happen now. The Auxem wouldn’t even look at a woman who had the gene.

The hunky guy over there wouldn’t even touch me if he knew the truth. Of course, that kind of man would never look at a girl like me in the first place. I understood they had rules, but it didn’t seem fair.

I must have been distracted by my tears and mental state. I acted carelessly. I didn’t notice the two men following me. I wasn’t in a particularly bad part of town, but it wasn’t completely safe for a woman to be alone either. The sun had recently set. It wasn’t dark enough for the street lights to turn on, but it was just dark enough to make criminals more confident.

The men caught up with me and pushed me into an alley. The taller one spoke first. “Hey, beautiful. We have a problem we think you might be able to fix.” He shoved me against the building, hitting my head against the wall and holding me there. “You look like maybe you have a lot of credits saved up. Maybe you can transfer some of them to us.”

“No.” I heard the trembling in my voice. I didn’t want to look afraid in front of them. “I have nothing, sorry. I just used the last of them.” I didn’t even have to lie about my finances. Applying to the Auxem program was expensive, and it had taken almost all my savings.

“So you don’t have any loose credits?” The other started leering at me. “You’ll have to pay us another way.”

They weren’t going to let me go unless I gave them something. “I was wrong. I have a few. Here you go.”

The taller man smiled. “That’s more like it.” I felt like crying, thinking about what those credits could have bought me. “But it’s not enough. Think of it as a down payment.”

“It will take more than that to satisfy us.” The other man started to lift my shirt.

“Fuck you.” I kicked my foot wildly, finding nothing but air. The more I struggled, the tighter they pinned me down.

The taller man cried out when my next kick connected with his shin. “You little bitch, you’re going to pay for that.” He backhanded me across the face, causing my head to snap to the side. My eyes welled up, but I refused to let a single tear fall.

I heard shouting from the other end of the alleyway. Someone had spotted me and was trying to help.

“Shit.” As soon as their grip around me loosened, I twisted away and dashed down the alley. I hoped there was a way out at the end. They screamed at me to stop. I heard the sound of their feet running after me. The adrenaline helped me run faster than I knew I could, and I emerged on the same street as the testing center.

I couldn’t decide where to go or what to do in my terrified state. I just kept running as fast as I could. Maybe the testing center was still open. As I got closer, I could see it was closed. The lights were off, and I couldn’t see anyone moving inside. I ran around the building and spotted a small, empty shuttle.

I moved to the far side and pressed the open button. I nearly collapsed in relief when the door lifted; whoever owned the ship was careless. The sound of running stopped when the men came around the corner of the building. I scrambled inside before they noticed me. I locked the door behind me and hid in the storage compartment farthest away from the door. I tried to stop breathing, inhaling air slowly through my nose. The air smelled stale and a little musty.

I could hear the men talking outside, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I crouched in the shuttle and waited for something to happen. When their voices faded away, I stayed on the ship, worried they were trying to trick me. If they weren’t waiting around for me, I was going to have a car pick me up and take me home. I wasn’t walking anywhere after what just happened to me.

After five minutes, I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to look around and see if I was alone. I was starting to wonder about the ship, too. I hadn’t seen anything like it before on Earth. What if it was an Auxem shuttle used by the testing center? If the Auxem discovered a human on one of their ships, they would be much angrier than a couple of thugs in an alley. I stood up and was about to open the compartment when I heard different voices coming toward the shuttle.

“I thought I left the door unlocked.”

“Anders, Earth is far from the safest planet around. You should make sure everything is secure. You don’t want Father to get angry, do you?” I opened the door of the compartment a little and peeked out. The guy who ran into me at the testing center was speaking.

“I know, I just forget sometimes. I was supposed to lock it, but I didn’t. What I’m wondering is why it’s locked now.”

“You don’t remember anything. Locked, unlocked, it’s all the same to you. Let’s get out of here and fly back to the mothership. I need to stretch my...”

“Not here, Allex.”

“We’re far from any humans. No one can hear us.”

“Our orders are to avoid discussing certain topics when we’re not on the mothership. We’re not supposed to take any unnecessary risks.”

“Fine, have it your way.” Allex looked annoyed.

I couldn’t show myself, no matter how worried I was. If they found me, they would have caught me in a criminal act. It was better for me to stay hidden. When the shuttle returned to Earth, I could sneak out without anyone noticing me.

My day was going from bad to worse. There wasn’t any padding in the storage compartment, but there were straps for immobilizing freight. I worked with the lines and buckles available to strap myself in before the shuttle lifted off the ground.

It was my first time off the planet. My trip was illicit, and I would be coming back to Earth soon, but I still felt a stab of excitement rush through my body. I hadn’t even been in low orbit for a paraball game. Leaving gravity behind was a new experience for me.

Anders spoke again. “I’m going on a scouting mission when we get back.”

“That sounds incredibly boring. Have you managed to convince Father to buy your precious fighters yet?” Allex looked gorgeous.

“Not yet, but he’ll come around.” The pilot sounded frustrated. “Some of the sectors we’re passing through are dangerous. There aren’t any laws in this section of the galaxy.”

“Are you worried about space pirates? It seems like a remote possibility, Anders.”

“If I wasn’t concerned, I wouldn’t insist and fight with Father about it.”

The ship shuddered. “We’re here, Allex. Perfect landing, as usual.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.” I heard belts unbuckling. “Do you think you’re going back down again before we leave?”

“Yes, Jayne has a few more things I have to pick up for her. This shuttle is due for maintenance, so I’m going to take another one down.”

“There aren’t any other shuttles in here.”

“They’re in another docking bay. We’re in maintenance. Jayne and Arnon are arriving on one of the last shuttles. Jayne said she wants to spend more time with her family before she leaves for an alien world. I’m glad she’s coming with us, Allex. It’s going to be wonderful having a woman in the family again. I always wanted a sister.”

Was Allex marrying Jayne? Only understanding half their conversation was giving me a headache.

“You have, haven’t you? Four brothers weren’t enough for you.”

“You know it’s not the same thing, Allex. Have a safe flight, brother.”

“Thanks, Anders. You too.”

I heard the doors open and close, and the shuttle fell silent. Maintenance didn’t sound promising. I would have to find another shuttle to take me back to Earth. I hoped the docking bay was close to the maintenance bay.

I worried my innocent act of hiding from my attackers would turn into a bigger problem than I had imagined. But I was confident I would find a way back to Earth.

I had no idea how to find the docking bay, but I would figure it out.

I had less confidence in myself after I had spent a day hiding out and sneaking around trying to find the docking bay. I was hungry. There was water in the bathroom, so I wasn’t getting dehydrated, but I needed to find something to eat.

I had done a project once on transport-class starships in school. I had been obsessed with spacecraft bringing people all the way across the galaxy. These ships used similar design patterns. The living quarters were on the top, with service levels like the elusive docking bay beneath. Food and greenhouse levels were next, and after that came the engines, heating and waste levels.

If I wanted to ease my hunger, the greenhouses were the place to go. Transporters were everywhere, but I wasn’t going to risk using one. The Auxem had a transporter accident in the past and installed emergency stairs on all their space vessels; I had seen a stairwell while sneaking around in the middle of the night.

The problem with transporters was that they recorded information about the people who used them, and I needed to stay off the grid. I had managed to avoid other people so far. There weren’t many, which made me suspect the starship wasn’t leaving for a while. With luck, I would have time to find some food and the docking bay before it departed.

After climbing down a seemingly never-ending flight of stairs, I found myself roaming around the darkened bowels of the ship. I hadn’t passed a greenhouse, but I managed to find a room filled with dried food. I ripped open a bunch of packages and began stuffing my face while squatting on the floor of a dimly lit storeroom closet.

The engines roared as I ate my meal. They were probably a floor or two below me. I felt the deck move as they kicked into high gear, and I froze in place with a protein bar halfway to my mouth.

You could only hear starship engines when they were running at full power during takeoff. When the ship was sitting still or in motion, it required little power to keep it going. Firing up an enormous ship like a transport took a lot of energy.

The only reason the engines would be so loud was if the ship was leaving Earth. I was trapped, and I had become an illegal stowaway.

Everything changed for me when the engines started. I was never going home again.