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  Still, as my body grew weightless and was carried closer and closer to the ship, I couldn’t help but shiver. I could see Zone Seven growing smaller, until finally, it disappeared behind heavy silver doors with a loud clank.

  In that instant, I had the sinking feeling that I would never see home again.

  ***

  “Into the cell with the others!”

  I bit back the bile rising in my throat as the stout, Pelin man, covered from head to toe with long auburn hair, nudged me back with a long, prodding cane.

  It was more than a cane though, I knew; it was a powerful weapon.

  The cell was overcrowded with terrified women, their eyes wide with terror at the sight of the Pelin guard.

  “We will be back on the planet Helna in approximately six Earth hours. I expect nothing but your utmost compliance. The prison guard is a Verian. As you can imagine, he does not tolerate any less. You’ve been warned.”

  “Fuck,” one of the women whispered as I was shoved into the cell. “We’re being abducted by the Verians?!”

  I landed hard on the ice-cold floor of the cell, and none of the other women made a move to help me up.

  “I recommend all of you stay quiet, or suffer the consequences.”

  The Pelin guard disappeared, and I got shakily to my feet to watch him go.

  He was a small, ugly man, proud even though it was widely known that the Verians were bloodthirsty enemies of Earth, and the Pelins did their bidding. Apparently, their own planet had long ago been compromised by the warrior race, and now all that was left for the Pelin to do was accept their fate as the slaves to the Verians.

  “Hey,” a woman’s voice hissed. “I know you. Regan, right? You’re that girl.”

  I cringed. Why was it that even as I was being abducted, people could pick me out of a crowd? Wasn’t it bad enough as it was without being tied to my past?

  “I don’t know you,” I said pointedly.

  “Well, that’s just too bad. We’re from the same Zone.”

  I sighed, turning to face her. “What do you want?”

  She grinned. “Why don’t you tell us all a story then? Maybe ease up a bit of the tension we’re all feeling right now.”

  I frowned. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m not a storyteller.”

  “That’s not the way my dad would have it told,” the woman insisted. As I studied her, I realized she was actually more girl than woman. Just barely a teenager. She had probably been caught necking outside the zone with one of the soldiers. I knew her type a mile away.

  “Your dad doesn’t know anything about me,” I mumbled.

  But now, all the women had stopped their chattering, and I could feel their gazes heavy upon me.

  “Is that right?” she asked, a soft, mocking laugh escaping her lips. “Well, some things never change.”

  The conversation seemed to leave everybody around us scandalized, but nobody dared to voice the question on their minds. That left me with a question of my own. Sure, I had made some mistakes, but just what the hell was everybody talking about?

  Fortunately, there was only one other woman from our zone in the cell with us, and she stayed quiet, watching the exchange with dark, serious eyes.

  Before the subject was pursued any further, one of the Pelin guards made a round, passing in front of the cell. The women were suddenly animated and frantic, begging the small man to let us out of the cell. Promising things they never could have delivered.

  I was relieved to have the attention taken off of me, but well into the night, I could feel the steady gazes of the two women from my zone upon me. In a way, I was glad to be leaving my reputation behind. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with that cocky teenager much longer. I wasn’t known for my patience. And that would be the last lesson anybody needed to learn about me.

  ***

  “Settle down and be silent!” a strong voice commanded, immediately grabbing everybody’s attention as the turbulence rocked the ship. “We will be landing shortly!”

  Despite the nervous flutter in my stomach, I had to admit that the voice intrigued me. It wasn’t the smug, bossy voice of the Pelin guard. It was different somehow. Deeper, and far more masculine. He didn’t have to strive for control the way the Pelin did. He simply exuded it, and his confidence immediately quieted the women around me.

  “There! Was that so difficult? My Freg, you humans are unreasonable,” the man said, striding into view. “You would never find Verians with so little self-restraint!”

  I gasped inwardly. This wasn’t what I’d pictured the Verians looking like. The people on Earth portrayed them as horrific monsters. But this man was astonishingly handsome. I gaped at him as he continued his speech, completely zoning out as he went on about how much better his race was than ours. I just couldn’t stop looking at him.

  First of all, he was tall. About a head taller than the men on Earth, and his body was packed tight with dense muscles that were made obvious by the tight, silk-like uniform he was wearing. He wore his silver hair long, with a few complex braids wrapped around his head. We had been taught that the braids were indicative of status on the planet Helna, and although he wasn’t nobility, it was clear he answered to it.

  “When I open the door, you are all to line up and follow me out in single file. If you do not comply, you will face mortal consequences.”

  I couldn’t stop staring at this man as he spoke. His skin was pale, but a ruddy orange tone brightened his chiseled features as his silver eyes scanned the crowd of women gathered in the cell.

  I could tell the other women were just as astonished as I was by this man’s appearance, but his expression was no-nonsense and hard. He waited for us to all quiet down before speaking again.

  “All right, we’re going to do this right!”

  I was shocked by the man’s English. I’d assumed the Verians wouldn’t waste their time learning the dialects of Earth the way we’d been forced to learn to read and understand the Verians’ language. Apparently, though, they had.

  The heavy door to our cell creaked open, and the handsome man’s voice rang out around us. “One at a time! Starting with you!”

  He pointed at the woman closest to him, and then the next woman, until a line began to form deep into the long metallic corridor. I gasped inwardly when the man’s eyes bore into mine, and his long finger extended toward me. Up close, I realized that there were quite a few aesthetic dissimilarities between the Verians and humans. Though mostly humanoid, the Verians had ridges of bone – or was it muscle? – that formed a beautiful, intricate line reaching across the forehead, ear to ear, almost as if he were wearing a permanent crown.

  “You next then,” the man said. Apparently, I had been staring too long, and the Verian wrapped his strong hand around my wrist and tugged me out of the cell. He clearly didn’t tolerate any sign of insubordination, and walked me to my place in line firmly, his mouth in a thin line once he deposited me in the back of the line.

  “Anybody else pulls that kind of stunt and none of you will make it out of this ship alive!”

  The threat elicited whimpers from the women around me, but I was quiet and stone-faced as he stared me in the eye. A slim, silver patch of hair was just beginning to grow on the man’s chin, which became suddenly apparent when the whisper of a smile creased his handsome face. It seemed funny to me that even the Verians could grow facial hair. I would have laughed, but the man’s silver eyes were watching me carefully.

  “Know your place, female,” he advised. “Don’t waste my time again.”

  I sighed, and the man turned his back on me and headed back to the cell. I was captivated by the sight of him as he worked; unbelievably efficient, and commanding without being cruel. It was definitely not what I had expected the people of Verians to be like. In a way, I guess I assumed we’d all be killed straight away. But it was common knowledge that they needed females. Why, we weren’t sure. We just knew women from Earth disappeared in droves, along with vari
ous resources. Clearly, to them, Earth was a treasure trove.

  Finally, everybody was lined up, and the handsome Verian man made his way to the front of the line, his eyes sharp and his voice commanding as he spoke. “You will follow me now. Remember, non-compliance will cause consequences. Consider whether or not you are willing to deal with them.”

  The women around me were quiet, but I could feel the tension in the air. We were marched forward, some women holding hands and others whimpering softly to themselves. I myself wasn’t trembling. I wasn’t even scared. All I could do was stare at the Verian man leading our line and wonder about his life.

  What could possibly lead someone to thinking it was all right to take women away from their homes against their will, and do so with such conviction that half of us were sure that resisting would mean we were doing something wrong? It was baffling to me.

  “We are about to leave the ship,” the Verian man said, pausing in front of a large doorway. “Remember what I told you.”

  The man reached out and slammed his fist against a huge button, and a whirring mechanical sound suddenly ground into the air, and the doors began to open slowly. It was shocking how low-tech everything the Verians did appeared to be. And yet they still had some advancements over humanity. If they didn’t, the war wouldn’t have been raging quite so long as it had been. The doors had a medieval feel to them.

  At first, nothing was visible but a small stream of light through the slit of the doors as they opened, but soon, we were looking upon a huge airfield, deserted and bleak, much like the terrain on Earth. In the distance though, there was much lush greenery, and the sun was shining cheerfully over the deserted wasteland. It was a strange picture.

  As the Verian man marched us outside, I realized that there was an imposing gray building behind the ship. The Verian marched purposefully, and we were led to it together through the sandy dunes, squinting our eyes as the wind picked up and kicked dust into our faces.

  “We’re going in there?” a woman near the beginning of the line exclaimed when we drew nearer, and the disturbing nature of the factory-like prison became obvious. She grew suddenly rigid, forcing the line to a halt.

  “Yes,” the Verian man said, narrowing his eyes impatiently. “Let’s go. Now.”

  But the woman was frozen in terror and scrambled backward, knocking two other women down to the ground.

  “Halt!” the Verian exclaimed, his voice ringing out into the air like a shot. But it only fueled the woman’s panic, and she continued to try to crawl away, tears streaming down her face. I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the poor woman. She was terrified.

  The Verian started toward her, his hand drawn back and ready to strike. It seemed unbelievably cruel, and for the second time that day, I couldn’t believe what I was doing.

  “Stop!” I cried, running between the Verian and the woman shivering in terror on the ground. “Leave her be!”

  The women around me sucked in a collective breath, and I stared the Verian in the eye. All signs of kindness disappeared from them, and I swallowed hard. This was going to hurt.

  Chapter 2

  Zaine Volaire

  “If you touch a hair on her head, I swear…”

  I gazed at the defiant human in surprise as she hovered protectively in front of the female on the ground. This was the last thing I needed. In truth, I had been troubled by the same inexplicable illness that had been plaguing my colleagues on the planet Helna and wished more than anything to be in my dome resting rather than leading yet another mission back and forth to Earth.

  “You’ll do what, exactly?” I asked the female, staring into her fierce blue eyes. Unlike the other humans in my care, she didn’t flinch, and her full lips set into a line of grim determination.

  “Just leave her be. Is that too much to ask?”

  Her voice was a hoarse whisper, but I wouldn’t mistake that whisper to be any type of submission. She might have been nervous, sure, but she was fearless. It was a quality that would bode well for breeding, even if it was a pain in the keita.

  “I already told you all what would happen if you don’t comply,” I said sternly, reaching for the weapon tucked into my belt. The human swallowed hard, her beautiful face suddenly unsure.

  “She’s just scared,” the female insisted, despite the hesitation. “Don’t the Verians get scared of anything? Haven’t you ever felt fear?”

  The human continued to challenge me, her eyes never leaving my gaze, and I sighed, dropping my hand from my belt. Whether I had ever felt fear or not was beside the point. The females of a breeding age were desperately needed. Losing any was a step backward, especially a brave female. We needed their bodies to succeed in the takeover of Earth. We were running out of men.

  “Fear is universal, human,” I said to her, my eyes boring hard into hers. “And you would do well to learn some.”

  I turned my back on the line of females and went back to my post in the front.

  “Can you all keep quiet until we get where we are going or not? It would be a pity to have to dispose of such a big group so quickly.”

  The females were quick to agree to stay calm, and we continued our trek toward the prison. There were no other outbursts as I filed the humans inside and the rest of the prison staff took over.

  “Where are we going?” the fierce female asked, her eyes sharp on mine as she was led into the sterilization chamber. I held her gaze without answering. It would all be explained soon enough. I couldn’t show a weak front to the rest of the females in line who were waiting their turns, no matter how weak I was feeling. It was already a big enough problem that I had let the defiant female off the hook. I wouldn’t make another show of weakness.

  As soon as the last prisoner was taken into the sterilization chambers, I let out a deep sigh and headed to my office.

  “Zaine, welcome to you. How many females captured this time?”

  “Seventy-six,” I replied, surprised to see the ruler of our planet, the doyan, Vera Laize, sitting at my desk with her long legs propped up on it.

  “That’s not bad. Are you up for promotion this year?”

  I shrugged half-heartedly. “There is nowhere left to go in this system. They need me on the grounds.”

  “Well, I am doing my best to work on prison reform,” Doyan Vera said, though her words seemed hollow. What she was working on was trying to create as many future soldiers as possible, and we all knew she planned to do so by creating as many efficient prisons as possible for as little cost as she could. There was no point in beating around the bush about it. And yet she had a politician’s jargon, no matter who she was talking to. I couldn’t help but wonder who she thought she was fooling.

  “Sure, sure,” I said dismissively. “Well, you can tell the council that they’re going to have to make more room soon. I don’t intend to stop sending men to Earth. Not until the quota is filled. Phase 2 needs to succeed, or it will be the end of us all.”

  Doyan Vera nodded sternly, and I couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of fear. Who was I to be talking to her like that? It seemed unwise. She was the ruler of our planet; a fierce woman who had stepped up in the middle of the breeding crisis and, with her passion and tenacity, won the hearts of everybody. Of course, she already knew the situation, probably better than I did.

  In fact, once the mysterious virus began to spread, she had lost several children herself. While it seemed to wipe out the strength and virility of the Verian men, it made it impossible for Verian women to bear children. Everybody was tired of the grief and heartache. What could possibly be causing the death of every child conceived by the Verian species? It just wasn’t right.

  But the new Doyan had come up with the best solution. Something in the biology of the females of our planet had been destroyed, and it was probably the humans who were to blame. The female reproductive system was sensitive and fragile, so it could have been any number of any number of trades from planets throughout the galaxy. Our scientists w
ere still working on the cure, but everybody was divided on the cause. I personally blamed the humans.

  “Regardless,” the Doyan continued, “What do you make of the current situation? The females brought here today, will they do?”

  I nodded, fighting away images of the fiercely protective female. She probably didn’t even know the human she was defending. In fact, I was sure she didn’t. Each had been abducted from opposite points of the planet. I could remember.

  The Doyan stared at me expectantly as I internally debated whether or not I should tell her about the defiant human. But the last thing I needed was to have her questioning my authority at this point. Just because I had been suffering, as all men on the planet were suffering, didn’t mean I couldn’t do my job.

  Still, a simple nod was not an acceptable answer. Not to the ruler of my planet. Respect was due to be given, even if everybody knew that behind the scenes, her power had gotten to her head and a replacement was in the works. She was not particularly popular. Everybody needed answers, not more budget cuts.

  “The females are adequate. If there are any behavioral troubles, they will be dealt with in an isolated manner,” I said. “We don’t have much time to waste. Breeding season is upon us, and there are not enough females to go around.”

  “It’s true,” the Doyan said, her eyes settling darkly onto mine. “We must hurry if we are to continue to produce offspring for the next generation of warriors. And you know how the men get when they aren’t able to breed. It’s a nightmare.”

  I grinned privately. I knew very well.

  “Don’t worry, Doyan. If worst comes to worst, we can just put those men on the front lines. They will serve us well during the war. We need men who will show no mercy.”