Page 48 of Alien Bride

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It’s beyond horrible, I am well aware. I don’t want to tell her any of this shit. In the back of my mind, it hangs like a dark storm cloud.

Yet, it’s the truth. No matter how hard we run, we can’t turn back time. This is our history. We must own it.

Emma slides away from us. Her face is downtrodden. Her shoulders are hunched. We have told her too much, too fast. But we didn’t lie.

Rekker is reasoned. “Overpopulation was never an issue. Resources were finite, but long-lasting if we were smart about how we used them. Slain uses ninety percent of our planet’s energy, and it all goes to Empire City.”

She holds back her tears. “And the Lottery? I’m assuming that has something to do with the leftover females?” she asks.

“The Lottery is a system Slain designed to train the citizens to work on his behalf,” Lök says.

“The rich and powerful designed the Lottery to compliment their own gluttony. Those that are chosen to participate are sent to known rogue planets. They are controlled by contractors searching for Resnyx. Participants choose to become slaves by signing up,” Rekker adds.

“How do they win?” Emma asks.

“They don’t,” Lök growls. “No one wins.”

Rekker says, “Some have been said to win. They are given mates, congratulated publicly, but are then quickly swept into the inner regions of the planet, allowed to live with the elite.”

“Or killed,” Vraik replies.

Rekker nods. “Lök is correct. No one wins. It is a game that cannot be won.”

“The sentinel… he entered me into the Lottery,” she says, worried.

Vraik flexes. “We won’t let them take you from us.”

“How can you be so sure?” she asks.

“In less than a days time, we will have complete control of the Resnyx. The sentinels are the lapdogs of the Empire, trained better than any army. But it will take them ages to find us here.”

Vraik sighs. “Maybe we are just like the monsters that run this planet. We fought for Slain’s rebellion. Look where that got us.”

“Yeah, but it brought you three to me,” she says.

When I fought, I was ruthless, but I wasn’t like most of the other aliens. The other two weren’t either.

We didn’t kill civilians. We didn’t touch any women. But I did watch them get taken away.

A new tomorrow was already beginning to form under our eyes. That’s when I knew I wanted a different path.

But the path we took was based around stupidity and greed. We became the contractors we hated with all our hearts. We kept slaves and mined rogue planets dry.

We turned evil.

How could we?

Emotions are hard for me to handle. Our race is not equipped to handle such depth anymore. On this planet, there is only panic and anger. Submission and domination.

Emma has taught us many things. The more we open up, the more receptive she becomes. It’s baffling, but if it works, it works.

This is obviously the path we need to take.

She is gorgeous, but her looks are not everything to me. The things I’m starting to enjoy are miniscule. Sometimes, it’s the movements that her lips make in between sentences as she waits for our response. Other times, it’s the way her eyes close when she feels bashful.

Most of all, I adore her conviction. She wants a different life. We all do. And that’s why we are connected.

It makes sense now.


Tags: Penelope Woods Science Fiction