“I opened those doors and let you have my planet back. I didn’t have to do that. I could have allowed myself to starve,” I say.
“You wouldn’t have,” Lök argues.
I tighten my resolve. “I don’t have too much to live for back home,” I tell them. “You’d be surprised what I’d be willing to do.”
Rekker shoves Lök aside. “We told her we would listen,” he says, glaring at him.
Vraik interjects. “I’m done listening.”
Handsome or not, they do not know how to speak or treat a woman. “I thought you were highly evolved creatures. You act like you are ten years old,” I say.
“Vraik, shut your mouth, and let the woman talk,” Rekker says.
Alth
ough I try not to smile, the mild level of chivalry does feel kind of good.
Once the aliens shut up, I take a deep breath and open my mouth. This situation, having to deal with brutal savages in a diplomatic way is beyond crazy, but I take the floor as if this is a new story to take home to the Daily Star.
“I haven’t agreed to anything, yet,” I warn them.
Vraik stirs.
I continue, despite the twinkling noises from his jewelry ringing over my words. “This will be my choice. Not yours.”
“Insemination is not a choice,” Lök growls, “You will be bred.”
My heart is racing again, causing me to feel faint. I wince and deal with this as best I can.
I try to buy some time.
“Not here,” I say. “Not in the dead of space.”
That won’t happen. I just need time to escape...
Outside, the cosmos is dark. Tiny pin pricks of light glimmer around us, but they seem hollow, as if life used to exist there millions of years ago but not anymore.
The candle flicker of life; a simple glow is all that remains. History is meaningless to time.
My mother once told me, “A star is but a memory engrained in the black of God’s eye.”
I hang my head. “Please,” I whisper. “I know Earth won’t be around for much longer. And I understand I don’t get too much of a say. But let me have this one choice.”
The alpha aliens share glances.
Finally, Lök kneels to my level, eyes red and fixed on mine. A clicking noise exits his throat as he breathes in the air.
“If we bring you to our home, there is a chance that we will get caught,” he says.
I think of my mother. Before the abduction, she tried to tell me she loved me.
I’ll never hear her say those words. This is my future.
So I embrace it.
Tears swell against my eyelids. It doesn’t take much thought for the salty liquid to roll over the edge. “Take me to your planet,” I demand, shaking.
What I’m asking is a lot. These are aliens. Their race is used to taking whatever they want to take.