Savior (7 page)

Dannina sat down exhausted, and Uvinya
stood up taking over. “There are a lot of these beings, and we
never thought they would go to our planet, but they did. The
Doomickro wiped out cities and towns. You name it, they got to it.”
Uvinya’s voice trembled. “A lot of us survived, but the disease
from this wiped most of us out. The woman and children went first.
We eventually found a cure for everything, just a little too late.
The Inteli are strong. We picked ourselves up again and now have a
shield around our world that is impenetrable. Our ships are
state-of-the-art, so much so that the Doomickro stay away. We have
a treaty with them that they will not harm any planet under our
protection. The problem though is that they don’t know is we are
nearly extinct. You see, most of our women died, and we messed up
big time. This is where you two will come in.”

Uvinya sat down and looked at Heather
and her. “In the height of the war our scientists did some genetic
modifications. They changed our genes so at first our birth rate
went fifty-five percent boys to forty- five percent woman, and then
we changed it to sixty-five, thirty-five. We always thought we
would be able to change back. By the time we signed the treaty we
were trying to reverse it because our birth-rate became eighty-five
male to fifteen percent female.” Uvinya scrubbed her face. “We have
had the treaty now for a century, tried everything we can to get
our population back up to the numbers we need. Nothing has worked.
Our women have become sterile. We haven’t had a true mate mating in
over two hundred years. No one is willing to mate. With no
possibility of children, we have a good number of Inteli women
unmated, but it doesn’t matter. They cannot conceive
anyway.”

Opal was freaking out. Her mind
started think up all kinds of things. Were the Inteli going to use
them as experiments? Were they going to incubators and have
hundreds of alien children? She prayed they weren’t taken for what
her brain was coming up with, because she didn’t want to be a
baby-making machine.

Uvinya continued. “We have kept our
dwindling numbers a closely guarded secret. With having no success
at changing our percentages back, we have been looking to other
species to help populate our own. The problem is so far in our
travels we have only come across three beings that are compatible.
The Mermonfrinch, who are green slimy fish species, or the Apas who
are smaller than you, very primitive—so much so they don’t talk,
just grunt, and their bodies are covered in rough hair. None of our
men were willing to mate with either of these two. So that left
humans, and once our men saw a picture of your species they were
ready to go study your race more and acquire a sample or
two.”

She sat down, and Dannina got up.
“Your planet is two moon cycles away from ours.”

Heather spoke to the Inteli for the
first time. “Two moon cycles. What is that converted to Earth
time?”

Dannina’s bright green eyebrows
furrowed. “I think two months your time. We gathered as much
information from your satellites as we could, restocked,
researched, and explored. I’m delighted that our men find you
attractive because you have several problems. One, you are so
soft.” She walked across the room and grabbed Opal’s hand. “Soft,
easy to break, hurt, and you are small. You also have short
lifespans. That is easily fixed, though.”

Opal stared at where Dannina’s hand
held hers, then glanced around her and knew her eyes must be as big
as saucers after that information overload.

“
Holy shit,” Heather
mumbled.

Uvinya smiled. “It doesn’t seem to
matter to our men. Danickra didn’t hurt you, did he?” Uvinya turned
her focus on Heather. “Salamanda didn’t hurt you?”

They both shook their heads. Uvinya
tapped Heather.

“
You, human, are one
strong fighter. I have never seen any of our men run from anything.
Poor Salamanda will never live this down.”

Opal didn’t know if she could speak
anymore. Her brain was going a million miles an hour with all the
information floating about. She didn’t know how long she sat there.
She knew Heather must have blocked off what everything really meant
because she was laughing and chatting.

Looking around the room she found the
all-male crew throwing hungry glances their way.

Turning back to the Inteli woman who
had explained everything to her, she ran through everything in her
mind again. It finally sank in that they had been taken to become
brood mares. Baby-making machines. Oh God, how many men’s children
would she have? Would they be her children, or would they be
implanted and taken away?”

Standing up she paced, getting angrier
and angrier. “You took us to become your brood mares? Baby
machines?”

The women’s conversation froze
mid-sentence.

“
Why, if you’re so
advanced can’t you artificially inseminate women? Surely you have
other options? I’m not a baby oven.” She looked around the room at
the men. “I’m not sleeping with any more of you guys. I won’t do
it. You will have to force me. I’m not sleeping with anyone else.
I’m not letting anyone else touch me.” She felt arms wrap around
her, and she screamed, fighting her capture, not caring who it
was.

Chapter Six

Danickra came into the command room
just in time to see Opal’s outburst. Going straight to her he
wrapped his arms around her, and she fought him. “Please calm down.
No one but me will touch you. This I promise. Only me.” Her
struggles stopped, and she sagged in his arms.

Uvinya gave a harsh laugh. “Oh young
girl, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Danickra sat with Opal on his lap. He
looked down to see her leaking water from her eyes.

“
We’ve been brood mares as
you call them for centuries. I have lost hundreds of babies. That
artificial insemination you are talking about doesn’t work with our
men. We have tried everything. Our men’s sperm as you call it,
doesn’t work as soon as it touches air or a device. We have tried
several other devices, and many other things, all to no avail. You
two young women our last hope. If you can have children we can go
to your planet and retrieve more women.”

Opal pushed against him. “Let me
go”

He reluctantly released
her.

She stood. “If we can’t give you these
children will you set us free? Take us back to our home
world?”

Everyone looked to him, and he got up
and walked to Opal. “No. You are mine no matter whether you can
give me children or not.” The water that leaked from her eyes fell
and slid down her cheek.

He glanced around the room to see the
sympathetic faces of the Inteli and also envious stares he was
getting. What was it about these human woman that had Inteli men so
enthralled?

Danickra studied his youmnda. She was
enchanting. Her long brown hair stuck everywhere in disarray around
her, and her eyes were big pools to her soul. At the moment she
looked devastated. His chest felt tight, and he could feel his
heart beat pick up. He needed to make her smile, have her happy
again. Danickra knew with every fiber of his being he didn’t want
to see the look on her face ever again. It broke his heart. He
turned away from her before he became the biggest sap and begged
for her forgiveness. He was one of the most feared leaders, and yet
this little human could bring him to his knees.

Heather got up from her seat and
grabbed hold of Opal’s hand. “This is not what she expected. Opal
has been dreaming and reading about aliens since she was old enough
to go to the library. She became a librarian. She’s always been a
dreamer. I knew it had to be something like this. Besides trying to
take over our planet I don’t see any other use for us.”

He turned to see Opal wipe her eyes,
straighten herself, and glare at him. “I need to get out of here.
How do we get out?”

Danickra looked at his youmnda. He
would say one thing for humans—they were very expressive. If looks
could kill he would be dead right now. He glanced over at Uvinya
and Dannina, who nodded. He looked around to see if anyone else
would help him. They all looked to him like he should know what to
do. Sighing, he turned back to the two women glaring at him.
Sometimes he really hated being a leader and in charge of
decisions. He really wished he’d brought his sisters, who’d both
begged to come and said they would help, but he hadn’t wanted them
in any dangerous situations.

Figuring it should be okay to tell
Opal and Heather how to get in and out of rooms as he’d made and
designed the ship, so they should be safe. Danickra knew no one
could get on or off the ship without him knowing.

“
It’s very simple really.
As you know we each have our own shape. Therefore, if you’re going
to go into one of the rooms press the shape. To enter areas where
everyone is allowed there will be a pyramid. You will need to hold
your finger on the door buttons as they will only open to heat. The
doors with cylinders on them, open to restricted people.” Both
women raised their eyebrows at that.

He continued on. “Meals are given in
shifts, so people are always at their posts. Three main meals are
served although if you are hungry at anytime you are welcome to
help yourself in the kitchens. There are two recreational areas.
They will have the pyramid sign on door, surrounded by the ten clan
shapes. This will also be on kitchens and the
cafeteria.”

Danickra studied the women to make
sure they were listening. Heather was glancing around the room
stopping at a new colored male each time and seemed to be measuring
him up. Shrugging at the oddness he turned to Opal, who was focused
solely on him. She continually looked him up and down like she was
taking inventory. Her eyes finally met his, and she nodded, grabbed
her friend’s hand, pressed the wall button to open it and stomped
past him.

Once the panel was shut laughter could
be heard behind him. Salamanda came up and wacked him on the back.
“They’re all laughing at us. I have a feeling these humans are
going to cause some problem.”

Turning to glare at everyone who
laughed, Danickra said, “I have a feeling change is coming. I
really don’t get why you are laughing considering these human mates
are our last options. We really need to make this work and hope
they cooperate, because the next generation is in their hands.” The
room became instantly quiet.

Chapter Seven

Opal was sure she had walked down this
same stupid corridor a hundred times. Grabbing Heather’s hand she
pulled her to a stop. “Let’s sit down for a moment and see if that
helps.” They slid down the wall, and she groaned. “Next shape
thingies on a panel we see, we are going to push it. I’m hungry and
bored. I’m so sick of my own thoughts.”

Heather nodded next to her. “I’m so
hungry I’m willing to eat whatever alien food they throw at me.”
Heather squeezed her hand. “Opal, what should we do?”

She closed her eyes and said what had
been going through her mind for hours as they wandered the ships
halls. “Truthfully, I don’t know. You seemed the calm one a couple
of hours ago in the room with everyone.” Opal shook her head and
opened her eyes. “One part of me is saying, ‘wow, aliens want to
breed with you and take you to live somewhere else. How amazing.’
Another part is yelling several things like, ‘fuck, this is all a
bad dream. When we wake we will be passed out on the sand.’ Or ‘how
dare these aliens take me and try to breed with me?’ And then
there’s my favorite, that I have finally gone insane.” She ran
fingers through her tangled mess of hair.

“
My gut, Heather, is
telling me we should see what they offer us. Enjoy the ride. See if
the grass is greener on the other side. All I know right know is
I’m going to give this a chance. We don’t have a choice. If it
doesn’t work out at least I know I have met an alien race the color
of the rainbow. It also helps all the men I saw were gorgeous, with
bodies to die for.”

Heather giggled. “It’s so nice to know
your priorities, Opal.” They laughed at the situation
together.

“
Come on. Let’s get up.
I’m starving.”

Heather looked around them. “Have you
noticed that we haven’t seen anyone in the corridors the whole time
we have been walking them?”

She nodded to Heather. “Yes, it’s
creepy. That’s why I say next shape button we press, ‘cos I’m
starving and bored out of my mind.”

Getting up they walked slowly, staring
at every part of the walls, searching for a shape to press.
Finally, they come upon a panel with a pyramid with ten different
colors on it. Excited to have found something they pressed the
button together.

****

Danickra distracted himself at the
bridge, trying not to think about Opal and the look on her face.
Humans showed a lot of emotion on their faces, and Opal’s eyes as
she stared at him had been heart-breaking. Not for the first time,
he wished he’d brought his sisters with him.

Looking to the monitors for the
millionth time, he watched as Opal and Heather sank to the floor.
They’d been wandering for hours, and he’d made sure what ever
sector they were in they weren’t bothered.