LAUREN

“She’s waking up,” someone whispers beside my bed. “Everyone, play it cool.”

I rub my eyes with my knuckles and yawn, peering out. I don’t have my glasses on and everything looks like a blur. My head’s pounding and fuzzy, and I can’t think straight, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t supposed to be people in my bedroom. “Michelle?” I call out sleepily to my roommate. “Why are you in my room?”

It’s quiet for a long moment.

“Is Mee-shell in one of the other pods?” someone asks. It’s a man with a deep voice and a strange accent.

“I don’t know,” the woman says again, impatient. “Do I look like a motherfucking pod whisperer? I know just as much as you do.” A hand reaches out and grabs mine, squeezing it. Oh god, it feels burning hot—either that or I’m really cold.

Actually, come to think of it, it is really cold in my room. My toes are freezing. I curl them automatically and wonder why I don’t have any blankets.

“Honey, listen carefully,” the woman tells me. She leans in closer and I see it’s a blonde woman in a parka, her eyes a vivid, glowing blue. She’s pretty, in an athletic, weathered, spends-too-much-time-outdoors sort of way. I don’t know anyone like that. My people are more library people. Must be one of Michelle’s jogging friends. She squeezes my hand again. “I don’t want you to be alarmed, all right? You’re safe here. We’re the good guys.”

“Where’s Michelle? How come she let you in my room?” I frown, trying to pull my hand away from the woman. “Did you turn down the heat?”

“I think she’s still groggy,” another woman says in a quiet voice. “Should we have her drink something?”

The blonde woman moves away and turns into a blur. I can’t see farther than a few feet ahead of me without my glasses, and everything else seems to be moving back out of range. There’s a lot of blue moving at the edges of my vision, and I squint, but nothing comes into sight. Annoyed, I lean over the edge of my bed and fumble for my glasses on the nightstand—

Except there’s no nightstand. Or glasses.

And when I roll over, I realize I’m not in bed. My face smushes up against something that feels like a wall, and I realize about two seconds later that I’m naked.

Is…this one of those bad dreams where you’re naked at the mall? Or in class? I squeeze my eyes shut again, trying to re-route my dream. Happy thoughts, Lo. Think happy thoughts.

Except, my dream doesn’t seem to be changing. I cautiously open one eye again and a blurry blue face—and horns? Are those horns?—looms into view. “Is she well?”

I bite back a scream, shrinking down against my bed. I push back only to feel my shoulder on the opposite side hit a wall, too. Two narrow walls and I’m naked… Am I in a coffin?

“Am I dead?” I cry out, horrified. I squint at the big blue horned face. “Oh my god, are you devils? Am I in hell?”

“Only if it’s frozen over,” says the blonde. “Yuk, yuk.”

“Liz,” scolds the other woman. “Be nice.” A new face looms into view, and I can just barely make out a pale face and carroty red hair and another pair of crazy-blue eyes. A soft, furry blanket is handed to me. “Wrap up in this. I’m Harlow. Don’t be alarmed. We’re the good guys. I promise.”

Good guys? Does that mean there are bad guys? “W-where am I? Why am I naked?”

The blonde bites down on her knuckle. “So. Many. Jokes. I can’t. I just can’t, though.”

“You’re safe,” the redhead says again.

“Maybe we should have planned a speech,” the blonde continues. “Like, Smurf you very much, welcome to our village!”

“Liz!”

“I couldn’t help it!”

“What?” I whisper. I press a hand to my throbbing forehead. Am I…high? Roofied? I am way too confused.

“Liz is just making things worse,” the redhead says and moves closer to my side. She looms in and her face is pale and freckled but friendly. She, too, looks a little weathered and she’s also wearing a furry parka. “Okay. You’re not at home, um…what did you say your name was again?”

“Lauren,” I tell her. “But everyone calls me Lo. Have you seen my glasses?”

“Hi, Lo. I’m Harlow. This is Liz.” She points at the blonde blur at her side. “And I hate to break it to you, but you’ve been kidnapped by aliens.”

“Um, aliens?” I squint. Now I’m wondering if they’re the ones that are high.

“Not these aliens,” Harlow reassures me quickly, waving a hand. Another blue form shifts in the background and someone walks—oh god, those blue things are people? Really, really big people? With horns? I’m not dreaming that? “We’re the rescue team.”

“The good guys,” Liz chirps. “Welcome to your new home.”

* * *

My glasses are nowhere to be found. Neither are my pants, or my bed, or anything that resembles my apartment.

It seems I really have been kidnapped by aliens.

So far no one’s hurting me, so I try to keep my panic to a minimum. I think the fact that I was drugged helps, because I’m not feeling like freaking out. I’m just mostly really tired and drained. Liz and Harlow help me out of my “pod” and wrap me in yet another furry blanket. They lead me nearby where I sit on the floor amidst a bunch of other blankets. “Wait here,” Harlow tells me with a pat on my shoulder.

Like I’m going anywhere? I can’t even see two feet in front of me.

I try not to stare as some big blue guy approaches and offers me a waterskin and a pouch of something that feels like granola. “Eat,” he tells me in a gruff, accented voice, and then walks away a few feet. I’m pretty sure I saw a tail, which is alarming. I shove a handful of food into my mouth and crunch down, watching everyone around me. There are a lot of blue guys, and what’s weird is that they don’t seem to be wearing much clothing…unless they’re dressed in all blue. It’s strange, because I’m utterly freezing despite the layers of blankets on my body, and the contents of the waterskin they gave me are slushy with ice. Maybe I’ve caught a cold. That would explain my exhaustion and confusion.

I exhale deeply and watch my breath frost into a cloud in front of my face.

Okay, maybe I’m not sick.

“Is it winter?” I ask. “I thought it was summer.” At least, it was back home.

“Suh-mer is not here. She is back with the others,” the blue alien tells me, and then moves away a few feet to watch a blur in the distance.

Oooookay. Now I’m really confused. I take a sip of icy water and nod as if it all makes sense to me and watch as everyone moves around. They’re clustered around a dark blob and talking in low voices. A moment later, someone screams loudly. Really loudly. I jump in my seat and nearly spill my drink.

“It’s okay!” Harlow calls out. “Please don’t be scared! Someone grab her before she runs away!”

There’s a big haze of movement and then the screamer lets out another choked sob before going silent. I stare, eyes wide, and try not to panic.

“Well, that went well,” Liz says dryly. “I feel like we need to practice our ‘We’re aliens’ speech a bit more. Like maybe we don’t open up with ‘Hi, we’re aliens.’”

“Let me handle this next one,” Harlow tells her firmly. “Go sit her down with her friend.”

The “friend” must be me. Is this my roomie Michelle, then? Maybe she’ll know what’s going on. A few moments later, Liz brings another fur-wrapped person to come and sit next to me in the blankets. This one is sniffling and crying, and I get a sense of impatience from Liz before she heads off to help again. Another blue guy steps in and offers the girl next to me her own snacks and then moves away once more.

“Hi,” I whisper to the new girl, once it’s clear that she’s not Michelle. Michelle has dark skin and short cropped hair. This girl has brown, messy hair and freckles, and she’s weeping and blubbering in a way that Michelle never would. Should I be panicking more than I am? For a moment, I’m kind of relieved that I can’t see shit without my glasses. “I’m Lo.”

“You’re what?” the girl asks, her voice twangy with a Southern accent. “Low?”

Oh. Maybe that didn’t make sense. “I’m Lauren. Everyone calls me Lo, though. Hi.”

“Willa,” she replies and swipes at her nose. “Do…do you know what’s going on here?”

“Not really.”

She leans in closer to me. “Are they bad guys?”

“I hope not,” I whisper. “Because I don’t have any underpants.”

Willa gives a teary giggle. “Me either.”

I start to laugh, too, and then we’re both chuckling as we eat our granola. It seems like such a stupid—but important—thing to be upset over. Funnily enough, though, I do feel better being able to laugh over things. “Where are you from?” I ask Willa. “I’m from Durham, but I don’t think we’re in North Carolina because it’s really cold.”

“Arkansas,” Willa says. “Hot Springs.” She sniffs her waterskin, as if not sure if she can trust it, and then takes a sip. “Where do you think we are?”

“Maybe the mountains?” I guess, though I’m not entirely sure. If we are, how did we get here? And why are aliens here?

“Do you think we’re safe?” Willa asks me, worried.

I shrug, because I really don’t know. “I think if they were going to kill us, they wouldn’t be feeding us and giving us blankets,” I tell her, since that’s the most hopeful thing I can think of.

“Oh good.” She sounds cheered up by this. “Lordy, I was about to pee in my non-existent pants at the thought of being killed by aliens.”

I smile at her words, though I’m not entirely sure we’re safe. Harlow and Liz seem nice enough, but I can’t help but think of their eerily glowing blue eyes and the fact that there are only two of them and a lot of big blue males.

A few moments later, another girl comes to join us. She stumbles as she falls into the furs, knocking my water out of my hands and tripping over Willa’s blankets. “Sorry,” she says quickly.

“It’s okay,” I tell her as I scramble to pick up the water before it can leak everywhere. Willa and I help her sit upright and she pulls her blankets close around her shoulders. “I’m Lauren, this is Willa.”

“I’m Veronica. Where are we?”

“Y’all’s guess is as good as mine,” Willa declares.

“How many of us are there?” Veronica wants to know. “Are…are all of these big black crates people?”

I think of the coffin thing I was pulled out of and squint over in the direction where Liz and Harlow are busy. They’re surrounded by a few of the half-naked blue guys. “How many of them are there? I can’t tell anything without my glasses.”

Veronica huddles down next to me while Willa gets to her feet, counting. After a moment she sits down again and leans in toward me. “I counted twenty. And they just pulled a pregnant lady out of another one of them boxes.”

Twenty people? Are they all like us, confused and naked? What the heck is going on? Why are we here? What do these aliens want with us?

Better yet, how do we get home?

* * *

One by one, our small group turns into a rather large group. We’re joined by Nadine and Callie and Bridget, who all seem to be taking things in stride. They’ve got the same dazed expression I do. Samantha is panicky and slaps away the hands of anyone that tries to help her. Devi is a chatter, and a woman named Marisol decides that I’m the best one to hide behind. She huddles behind me, pushing up against my furs as if she can somehow slide under my skin. I don’t complain, because I’m scared, too. I can’t blame her for trying to find a safe spot. I’m just not sure I’m that safe spot.

We’re a motley group, I think. Nadine is black, Flordeliza is Asian, and Devi is Indian. I think. I’m also pretty sure Callie is Hispanic, though it seems impolite—and silly—to ask. What does it matter what someone’s skin color is when we’re surrounded by blue people? Then there’s Tia, who looks to be a teenager. Hannah and Penny and Steph are big girls with bouncy figures and cleavage that even my blind self can see.

And then there’s Angie.

Poor, poor Angie. She keeps touching her belly—her very, very pregnant belly—as if in shock. “Are you okay?” someone asks her.

“I think I’m pregnant,” she says, utterly astonished.

After that, it goes really quiet. It’s clear to all of us that Angie is very pregnant, but if it’s a surprise to her, how long has she been “asleep”? And who impregnated her? It’s disturbing and I get sick at the thought of what that means. If Angie’s been impregnated, what about the rest of us?

“That’s all the females,” someone says. “Now to get the males.”

My throat goes dry on the last of my trail mix. We’re a quiet group, everyone eating and trying not to freak out, though there’s the occasional panicky sniffle. I think we’re all just trying to figure out what’s going on. Harlow moves over to our shivering group while Liz stays with the others. As she passes by, I notice she has her hands at the small of her back and her belly juts out from her parka. She’s pregnant, too.

“I wonder if they got her while she was sleepin’, too,” Willa whispers, thinking the same thing I am.

A big blue blur comes up to Harlow’s side and brings her a chair. “Sit,” he demands. “You push too hard.”

“I’m fine, baby. I promise.” She leans into the blue guy and I realize a second later that the two blurs are kissing.

“Sit anyhow,” he demands, earning a chuckle from her.

A moment later, Harlow sits with our group on a padded stool. She adjusts her clothes and then gazes into our waiting faces, clasping her hands. “Before I launch into everything, because I know it’s going to be a little hard to believe, I want you to remember that I’m your friend, and I’ve been through this and I’m here to help, okay?” When no one says anything, she nods slowly. “All right. I’m sure you’re all wondering what’s going on. I have answers. You might not like them, but I do have answers.”

Marisol clutches tightly at my back, as if bracing herself.

“A few years ago, I, too, woke up in a strange, cold place surrounded by strangers. I’d been taken from my bed while I slept and woke up to a new world. Nothing made sense. I was rescued by a very kind group who took me out of a pod very much like the ones you guys were in.” She gestures off to the distance.

“He’s fighting,” Liz bellows out. “Someone get over here and hold him down! We mean you no harm, damn it. Fuck off with the hitting!”

Several of the big blue aliens rush across the room and Harlow pauses. Willa’s eyes go wide and someone else begins to cry quietly.

Things quiet down a moment later and Harlow sighs. She rubs her rounded belly and I can’t help but glance over at Angie, who keeps staring down at her own like it’s betrayed her. I guess it has, in a sense. “I was kidnapped by aliens that the others call ‘Little Green Men.’ They’ve got big eyes and skinny bodies and they take human women and sell them on the black market in outer space as slaves or pets of some kind.”

“Is that what’s happening to us?” one girl asks, her tone part horror and part anger. “We’re your slaves now?”

“No,” Harlow says calmly. “Those aliens aren’t the ones that took you. The ones that did were a different kind of slaver, but the crew was…not the same. Those slavers landed here trying to gather a few more slaves and we killed them.”

Someone raises a hand. “I’m confused. So the bad guys are dead?”

“Yes. They’re dead and they’re not going to harm anyone. I promise.”

“Where is their spaceship if you guys stopped them?”

“You’re sitting in it.”

Are we? I squint at my surroundings, but all I can tell is that it’s dark and cold. Really, really cold. I shiver and huddle deeper into my blankets. If we’re on a spaceship…

“So you guys are going to, what, drive the spaceship and take us home, right?” another woman—Nadine, I think—asks. “Is that what this is about? You’re going to take us back to our homes?”

Harlow pauses. “Um, not exactly. That’s a big problem with this. You can’t go home. You are home.”

“Where are we exactly? Are we even on Earth?”

“You’re on a different planet. This one has two small suns and two moons and it’s a little chilly.” She smiles to take the sting out of her words. “But it’s a very nice place and the people here are wonderful, I promise.”

Someone begins to laugh hysterically. Samantha. “So, wait. We can’t go home? Now? Or ever?”

“Ever, I’m afraid.” Harlow’s voice is so gentle. “There’s no way back.”

“Bullshit,” Hannah says, clearly upset.

Samantha just laughs and laughs, as if this is the funniest thing she’s ever heard. Someone else starts to cry. Several people, actually. I’m numb. I don’t know what to think.

No…home? Ever again?

I think of my apartment back near the institute. Michelle won’t care that I’m missing until the rent is due or my pet cockatoo starts screaming for food. Luckily, Nugget is really noisy and Michelle likes him. My poor Nugget. My poor parents. Poor me. I feel a keen sense of grief for everything I’ve lost in a flash. I’ve done nothing to deserve this, but my world has somehow been ripped away from me in an instant. I don’t even have my glasses.

I’ve lost everything.

“This is bullshit!” Hannah cries out. “We’re sitting in a spaceship. Why can’t we just turn it around and drive it back to Earth?”

Harlow raises a hand, as if to calm her. “I know how you feel. I promise you, I felt the same when I first woke up and realized what happened. But this ship originally came here looking for more slaves. They followed the records of the old crew, who had landed here earlier, and murdered them. If this ship goes back to Earth, someone’s going to take the flight paths and trace them back to this world and make everyone that lives here unsafe. I’m sorry to say that there are dozens of families living here that would be endangered. You guys are outvoted.”

There’s a low ripple of unhappy murmurs amongst the group. I feel a stab of resentment, too, even though part of me understands it. The other part of me just wants to go home. Marisol shudders against my back. I reach backward and pat her as best I can. “So…what happens with the ship? What happens with us?” I ask. I can’t stay silent. I need to know.

“The ship,” Harlow says heavily, “will be destroyed so it can’t fly out again.” There’s another murmur of outraged voices. “I know. I know what you’re thinking. I’m not happy about it either, but if it means the difference between keeping the children safe, then that’s what’s going to happen.”

“This is crap,” Hannah says angrily. “We don’t get a say in—”

The big blue alien at Harlow’s side snarls, the sound low and menacing.

Hannah falls silent. We do, too.

“Rukh, baby,” Harlow murmurs. “It’s okay—”

“Is not okay,” the alien growls. “Our people risk their lives to save them. Many scared. Many away from kits. Many risk themselves. For what?” He stabs a finger in the air and points off to the side, where Liz and the others are still working on taming the fighting male. “So that one can bite and try to hurt more?” He glares at all of us with angry, glowing blue eyes. “We all at risk. All. This not just you. This us.”

There’s a long moment of silence. “Sorry,” Hannah mutters.

“This is all new for us,” says Willa. “It’s a lot to adjust to.”

“Please don’t apologize,” Harlow tells us. “Truly. This is new territory for everyone. And we knew it was going to be hard to understand. There were some of our people that wanted us to leave you in your sleep chambers because it was safer for all of us already here, but at the end of the day, we couldn’t. That wouldn’t be fair to you. So we woke you up, knowing that not all of you would be happy to join our tribe, and that not all of you are…” She clears her throat delicately. “Human.”

Somewhere in the background, there’s an animalistic roar of fury.

“What’s that?” Nadine asks.

“That would be ‘not human,’” Hannah says drily.

“So you’re not lying to us,” Samantha asks, moving forward. “There’s really no way home? And no one else is coming to get us?”

Harlow shakes her head. “One-way trip, I’m afraid.”

“And the men?” Samantha asks. “How many are human?”

“None?”

Samantha pauses and then starts laughing again. She falls backwards into the furs and keeps laughing, even when she wipes tears from her eyes.

Well, I guess we all deal with grief in different ways. I squint at Harlow. “I don’t suppose you guys have any spare eyeglasses around here? I can’t see a thing without mine.”

Another woman raises a hand. “I need my inhaler.”

A second hand goes up. “I’m allergic to bees. I need an epi-pen if you guys have bees here.”

Oddly enough, I wonder if they have birds here. I love birds. I’m trying to see the bright side of things, but it’s a little tricky. “Where is here?” I ask. “Where are we?”

“Like I said, it’s an ice planet. Two suns, two moons. Nothing else you’d recognize, I’m afraid. We’re all very primitive here, hence all the furs.” She smiles. “But it’s a good life once you get used to it, I promise.”

“There are no cities?” Willa asks.

“There’s a village. Just one.”

Jesus. I can’t imagine. This sounds worse and worse all the time.

“Doctors?” Angie asks, and her hand strokes over her belly thoughtfully.

I feel a quiver of remorse. Even without glasses, I’m still better off than Angie, who’s having a surprise baby. Oh god, I wonder if her baby’s even human? I shudder at the thought. Better not think about that.

“We have a healer, but she’s back with the tribe.” Harlow gives Angie a bright look. “But both Liz and I have had children before, so if we don’t make it back in time before your baby is born, we know what to do.” She turns to look at me. “As for glasses, you won’t need them.”

Is she being funny? “Uh, no, I’m pretty sure I need them. I wouldn’t even be able to tell how many fingers you’re holding up right now.” The thought of being stranded on an ice planet without my glasses is kind of terrifying.

“Uh oh,” Willa whispers. “Don’t look now, but red buns at three o’clock.”

Someone titters and I look over. Sure enough, there’s a big bright red guy standing off next to several of the ladies. He’s, um, endlessly red. There’s not a stitch of clothing on him…and I’m kind of bummed that I can’t see what his junk looks like.

I’m only human, after all. If there’s a naked dude, I want to stare, too.

Maybe I squint a little. Marisol reaches up and covers my eyes, and Willa giggles. Okay, maybe I was making that obvious. My bad. “Like I said, I can’t see anything without my glasses,” I call out a little loudly. Just so they know I’m not a total perv.

Just a somewhat perv.

“I know. I promise, you won’t need them,” Harlow says again, her voice gentle. She gestures to the big blue guy at her side and he offers a blanket to the red guy. Red guy takes the blanket handed to him, sniffs, and then casts it on the ground.

Well, all righty then.

Up goes the hand again. “What about my inhaler?”

Harlow is nodding. “The khui will take care of everything. Inhaler, too. Even cancer. It’s all taken care of when you get a khui.”

It sounds too good to be true. “Coo-ee? What’s a coo-ee?” I ask. “Is that like…Lasik? Because I don’t qualify.” And I’m not really sure what it does for inhalers.

“Well,” Harlow says, and wrings her hands for the first time. “No, it’s not a surgical procedure. It’s a…well, it’s a parasite.”