Authors: Sophie Stern
Hal gets me a clean outfit so I can get dressed. It’s not a uniform like the rest of the crew is wearing. No black-and-red for me. No, he brings me a long blue gown. It’s almost like a nightgown. I raise my eyebrows in surprise. This is what he wants me to wear? It’s not what I expected. I bite my tongue, though, and I’m silent as I dress.
Hal doesn’t give me panties or a bra and I don’t ask for them. Something tells me that Hal is at the end of his rope and I don’t want to go there. I’ve pushed my luck enough in my life to know that I don’t want to push this man. He can make the next four years bearable or he can make them complete hell.
Today is only day one, and I don’t want to fuck up the first good thing to happen to me in years. If the worst thing I have to face is being without underwear, I think I can handle that.
Once the dress is on, I automatically turn to look at myself in the full-length mirror next to my bed. There isn’t a single window in my room. Realistically, I’m probably in the middle of the ship, but I can’t help but wonder if the lack of windows also have to do with fear I might try to escape. It’s not like I’d survive at all in space.
Maybe they just don’t want me looking out the window and freaking out when there’s just…nothing.
The mirror is on the back wall. I can see the door reflected in it and it makes the bedroom look even bigger. Twisting and turning for a moment, I stare at myself from every possible angle. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a mirror. After the last war, our house was destroyed. That’s when Father and I built our little hut.
It was the only thing we could create on our own for shelter. We didn’t have any luxuries. A mirror was out of the question, simply because we had to scavenge for everything we had. I don’t think anyone on Earth has seen an unbroken mirror in months, maybe even years.
Now I see myself for the first time in forever, and I realize that I look like an adult. I’m not a little kid anymore. When did that happen?
“You look lovely,” Hal comments, and while I’m not the best with compliments, I have to say that I think he’s right. My hair is long now. It falls past my shoulders. It’s still damp, but I can see that the color is still dark brown. My eyes look sad, but maybe they’ll brighten up. My skin is pale, almost clammy-looking, and I’m much too thin, but the gown seems to brighten me up. It’s not quite see-through, but it’s pretty close.
“Why the transparent gown?” I ask Hal.
He snickers.
“Dragons like to play with their food.”
“What?” I screech, but he just laughs.
“I’m fucking with you. Come on. Let’s get you something to eat.”
He leads me out of the room and takes me down a hall. Hal moves quietly and quickly.
“How long have you been here? You seem like you really know your way around.”
“Long enough.”
“Is this your first journey to Earth?”
“No,” Hal shoots me a sideways glance, as if he’s trying to figure out exactly how much to tell me. Whatever. We’re stuck together for a couple of years so even if he doesn’t tell me today, chances are I’ll find out everything I need to know during our time on the ship. I can be patient.
Hal seems to come to the same conclusion because after a few minutes, he starts talking again.
“I’ve lived with the Taneyemm my entire life.”
“But you’re human.”
He nods.
“That’s what they tell me.”
“You don’t really know?”
“My mother came to Taneyemm as a refugee. She was pregnant. I don’t know if she came from Earth or another planet, but the dragons took her in. She gave birth to me there, but died shortly after. I was raised by a Taneyemm family as one of their own.”
“That’s very generous of them,” I say. Raising someone else’s child? How interesting. It happens on Earth still because parents die so frequently, but I’ve never heard of someone raising a child from another species. That’s fascinating to me. I imagine his Taneyemm caregivers must have been very generous and kind. They must have been very doting.
“Yes,” Hal says simply. “They’re quite lovely. I hope you can meet them sometime.”
We turn down another hall and suddenly, we’re standing in front of a door. It doesn’t open like a normal door. This one is designed to slide sideways, as are most of the doors on the ship. I still can’t quite get used to the
swoosh
sound they all make. This one doesn’t open as we approach, though. Hal has to input some numbers on a digital keypad next to the door. Then he presses his thumb to the pad. Finally, the door opens and we walk into a dining area.
“Seems like a lot of work to get a little food,” I murmur, and he nods knowingly.
“Yes, but you must remember that this food has been rationed for four years and must be rationed another four. We have gardens on the ship, but if someone decided to sneak in and take more than his or her fair share of the meals, we would starve before we reached home.”
Home.
He calls Taneyemm “home.”
Will that be me someday? Will I always consider Earth to be home? Or will I change, too? Will there come a time when I stop thinking of Earth as a place that’s “mine”?
It doesn’t even seem like a stretch to believe that. Earth hasn’t felt like “home” in a very long time. No, I feel like a woman who has no home. I have nothing to return to. There is no one to miss me. There is nothing.
Taneyemm might be awful, but it
must
be better than what I came from.
Even if it’s a planet full of fucking dragons.
That’s a pretty well-kept secret because I’ve never even heard rumors of that one. Oh sure, people have stories about shifters, or “changers,” if you’re old school, but alien dragons? That’s a new one. I’ve certainly never heard about that in regards to Taneyemm. I actually know very little about the planet I’m going to.
As we sit down and trays of food appear in front of us, I realize I’m going to have a lot to get used to.
“What is it?” I ask, but Hal shakes his head.
“Wrong.”
“What?” I’m confused.
“Wrong. Never ask what something is. It’s rude. Do you want me to help you prepare for your new life or not?”
I nod slowly.
“Then we start now. I’m not pulling that crap where I let you run free for three years and then suddenly try to prepare you for your new life. The other girls will be woken one month before we arrive and taught what they need to know, but you? You’ve got four damn years to learn. We start now. Never ask what someone gives you.”
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, and I pick up my fork to begin eating. It’s been so long since I had real food that I devour the whole thing quickly. Everything tastes good. Hal looks surprised, so I assume this is supposed to be “bad” food. Hey, when you’ve been scavenging on a broken and bleeding planet for years, anything would taste better than fried rats.
Anything.
Even the few times I’ve been able to grow vegetables, they’ve always been limp and tiny. Nothing like the food my mother used to grow before the war.
Nothing like that.
“Okay,” Hal says, finishing his own food much more slowly. “So, in the future, don’t act like you haven’t eaten in a year, okay?”
“But I-“
“I know, darling,” he holds up his hand. “That’s why it’s called ‘acting.’”
When he’s done, he gives me a brief tour of the wing we’re staying in. The ship is huge with multiple floors and staircases and elevators and rooms. I’m not allowed to go to the battlegrounds, which I think is a bit ridiculous, but apparently I’m not supposed to know they’re dragons.
Hal says he only told me so I would stop touching myself all the time. I don’t know how long that’s going to last for, but we’ll see. I’ve never had sex, but masturbation seems as good a way as any to pass the time and relax. When you have nothing left to live for, sometimes an orgasm helps.
We end up back at my room and he gently pushes me back inside. I turn to him, knowing what’s about to happen.
“You’re going to lock me inside, aren’t you?” He nods, almost sadly.
“Sorry, honey. House rules. Can’t have you wandering about, touching things you ought not to.” He wags his finger toward my nether region and raises his eyebrows. “Including that, darling. Including that.”
“Hal?”
“Yeah, Riley?” He turns back to me, and once again, I’m caught off guard by how handsome Hal is. He’s not really what I expected. He’s much smaller than the Taneyemms are, but still has a few inches on me. I’d guess 5’9”, maybe 5’10”. In the human world, he’d be considered a giant. Next to the others on the ship? He’s tiny.
“How come you get to wander around? Do you get locked up at night?”
“I’m not an Earthling, Riley. Never have been. The Taneyemms trust me because we grew up together and I have earned their trust. I’ve proven myself time and time again. They might not understand everything about me, but they value honesty above all else. Once they’ve learned you can be trusted, once you’ve proven that to them, mind you, then maybe you’ll be able to walk around on your own, okay?”
“Four years is a long time, Hal.”
“Not nearly as long as you might think.”
Then he pushes a button and my door closes. I don’t even bother walking over to it. I’m sure that it’s locked, and besides: I’m tired.
I don’t feel the need to say “one last goodbye” to my Mother Earth or anything like that. Instead, I take off the gown and place it on a shelf, then climb under the blankets. Everything in my room is white but the dress and the painting, and I feel a bit like I’m trapped in a cloud.
When I close my eyes, my father’s face swims before my eyes, and I cry myself to sleep because he’s gone and now, so am I.
A soft beeping noise in my room wakes me and I open my eyes, but don’t move. For a moment, I’m not sure where I am, but then I remember.
Father is gone. Dead. Soon Earth will be, too. The last few humans will die and the world will burn. It’s already burning.
When the last scavengers have all they need from the planet, when they’ve taken all the resources they can harvest, the Earth will be destroyed, blasted apart.
I wonder which planet will be responsible for that.
Slowly, I sit up in my bed and look around. The lights are on and I wonder if it’s all automatic. My room is small, but cozy. My bed is on one side and there’s a small space to stand between the side of the bed and the wall. At the head of the bed, there’s a full-length mirror and a nightstand. On the opposite wall is a painting next to built-in shelves. At the bottom of the shelves are several drawers.
Of course, there’s also my bathroom, which I realize I need to use.
Running water has never felt so good, and I spend much too long in the shower. I want to relive the pressure that’s been building between my legs, but I heed Hal’s warning and get out on my own, brush my teeth, and come back into my room.
When I emerge, Hal is there.
“Dammit,” I say. “Are you ever going to see me when I’m
not
naked?” I reach for the blue gown I wore yesterday and he’s patient as I dress myself.
“Come on,” he says. “Time for breakfast: then your lessons.”
I scarf down the food just as quickly as I did the day before. When I’m finished, I ask him if we’re already in space and he just laughs.
“Yes. We left right after Elf and Tank brought you on board.”
I never even felt the ship lift off. Strange. I wonder what kind of technology this is that the ship floats so smoothly.
After we’re done eating, Hal brings me to a room I haven’t seen yet. It’s very sterile-looking and there’s a long, mid-height table standing in the center of it.
“What kind of lessons are we talking about, Hal?” Suddenly, I’m feeling a little suspicious. I had pictured having lessons on etiquette or maybe even the language. Staring at this table, though, I’m wondering if the lessons are going to be a bit more hands-on than all of that.
A woman turns around from where she had been standing at the other side of the room, messing with some bottles and tools that I can’t quite see.
“Hal! Darling!” She kisses him on each cheek and I’m caught off guard, once again, by how affectionate everyone is here. The woman turns to me, and I take her in. She reminds me a bit of Jenika. She’s tall with dark hair and tan skin. Her eyes are big and wide. I feel like a tiny little doll compared to her.
“I’m Riley,” I say, and she squeals and claps her hands.
“Yes! Hal told me you were coming! Go on then, Hal. I’ll take good care of her.”
“Wait!” I turn back to him. “What’s going on?”
“This is Ruby,” he says. “Don’t worry. She’ll take good care of you.”
“I thought you said we were having lessons today.”
“This is lesson number one,” he says, quite seriously, and then he leaves. For a moment, I just stare at the door, not quite believing what’s happening. That’s it? He’s leaving? After all the buildup about “lessons,” I thought Hal was going to teach me something useful.
Apparently not.
I turn back to Ruby. She comes closer to me and, to my surprise, pulls my dress off. With a squeak of surprise, I move to cover myself, but she slaps my hands away.
“No, no. No modesty here. When you arrive on Taneyemm, there won’t be room for that.” Her voice is kind, but her eyes hold a warning.
“Ruby,” I say carefully, dropping my hands to my side. “What exactly is going to happen to me on Taneyemm?”
Seriously, if I’m going to be a sex slave, I wish someone would just tell me. So far, I know very little, but I’m starting to get used to their way of hiding information. It seems like I am told only as much as I need to know and nothing more. Maybe things will be different once I’ve been here awhile and everyone sees I don’t intend to make trouble, but I can’t be sure. I just know that if I want to stay, I need to be on my best behavior at all times.
Apparently, this means being naked a lot.
“Get on the table,” Ruby says, ignoring my question, and I obey. “First things first,” she walks around me, looking at my body. “When you arrive on the planet, you’ll be vetted by one of the doctors. He’ll make sure you’re in good health and there’s nothing wrong with you. If there’s a problem, you won’t be allowed to stay on the planet.”
I’m on my back, lying flat on the table. My hands are at my sides. If I close my eyes, I can pretend I’m just resting in my own bed, but the lights are so bright that I can’t fool my imagination for long.
“What happens if someone is sick?”
“They’re sent to a healing planet.”
“What’s that?”
“A story for another day. Now lie still.” I work hard not to move, but panic is raging inside of me. Somehow, I need to learn to keep my panic attacks at bay. There are going to be a lot of weird things happening to me in the future and I need to be ready for anything. Panicking won’t solve anything, so it’s important to stay calm.
My eyes follow my new friend as she moves around in the room. Ruby grabs a small metal wand from a wall. I wonder what the hell she’s about to do, but Ruby just smiles.
“This won’t hurt,” she says, and she starts moving it up and down my leg. The metal is cool against my skin at first, but gradually warms. I hear a soft buzzing sound, but there’s no pain. “I’m removing your hair,” she says, and I blush. I know I blush. I can feel myself turn red. I know women are supposed to be dainty and clean, but I’ve been living in a hut.
Hairy is my new normal.
Again, not anymore. Things are changing for me, starting with my physical appearance. What’s going to come next? My knowledge or my attitude? There’s no doubt in my mind I’ll be trained to be a good little Taneyemm human while I’m on the ship. This is going to mean a lot of difficult days and probably a lot of punishments because I’m stubborn and change doesn’t come easy for me.
“When you arrive, after you see the doctor, you’ll either be assigned a job or you’ll go to auction.”
“Auction?”
“Yes. Human girls are quite popular. Maybe you’ll be bought to be someone’s house servant or toy.”
I try to focus on what she said first and not last. The idea of being someone’s toy doesn’t exactly appeal to me.
“But I might get a job? I might not have to be someone’s servant?”
“Darling, you’re gorgeous. I can guarantee you’re going to be someone’s toy. Some girls do get jobs, but I can tell you right now, that won’t be you.”
I must start crying because Ruby stops what she’s doing to my legs and lifts me up so I’m sitting. Then she wraps her arms around me and holds me. She’s still standing next to the table, and she’s dressed and I’m not, so it’s a little awkward. Still, it’s the first physical affection I’ve had in a long time. I’ll take what I can get.
“It’s going to be okay,” she promises. “Girls are only auctioned to the royal house and noblemen. They won’t hurt you.”
“But what if they do?”
“They won’t.”
I might not be a dragon, but I can tell she’s lying. Still, I’ll hold onto her words for a little while. All too soon, reality will become apparent, and then I’ll have to cope with what I’ve become.
A possession.
When Ruby is done getting rid of my hair, she helps me off the table and I stand in front of the full-length mirror that hangs on one of the walls.
“What do you think?” She asks, and I just stare at myself. I don’t know what she did, but it didn’t hurt at all, and my body, from my neck down, is hairless. I run my hands over my breasts and down between my legs. Everything is so soft and smooth.
Ruby notices what I’m staring at and smiles.
“Mine is bare, too,” she pulls her pants down to her knees and I turn to look at her own bare pussy. My gaze meets hers and I realize that Ruby’s eyes look a little yellow. I wonder how much truth there was to Hal’s stories about the dragons. I lick my lips and look back at her pussy, then at mine.
“It feels soft,” I say.
“Oh yes,” she reaches out and touches me. “Very soft.” She slides a finger through my lips and I try not to quiver, but it happens so fast that I can’t stop. Ruby lifts me and lies me back down on the table. She’s not a giant, but she picks me up like I weigh nothing.
“What are you doing?” I ask, but then I’m quiet because she’s touching my pussy and it feels amazing.
No one has ever touched me there before.
No one but me.
I hold very still. She can’t stop now. She just can’t. I’ll die if she stops and what she’s doing feels so very, very good. Ruby’s fingers slip through my folds and center on my soft nub. She moves two fingers in a circular motion, round and round, until my breath catches and I start moaning.
Oh, it’s
never
felt like this before.
Is this why everyone loves sex? Why it’s so amazing? Why wars are fought over it? Ruby has only been touching me for a few seconds, but already, I’m going a bit crazy with lust.
“I can smell your arousal,” she says, but doesn’t stop touching me. “You like this, don’t you?”
“Yes, Ruby,” I murmur. “This feels so nice.”
She moves her fingers faster and faster until my eyes closed and the only thing I’m aware of is the pleasure building in my body. I’m about to dive into a wave of perfection when her fingers leave my body, only to be replaced with her tongue.
Her tongue is on me.
That’s all it takes.
I explode on Ruby’s table, coming all over her face. She keeps licking me as I cry out loudly, wiggling beneath her touch on the table. As my body eases back down from its high, I become aware of my surroundings once again, and I push up on my elbows to look at her.
She’s standing at the foot of the table smiling, obviously pleased with herself.
“What do you think, doll face?” She asks. “Better than the Earthlings?”
“I, I don’t know.” I say. Her smile falters for just a second, until I add, “That was my first time doing anything like that.”
Her eyes widen and she goes, “What?”
“My…my first time with another person,” I say. “I’ve never…” I wave my arm around. “That was the first.”
Ruby strides quickly over to my face and places her hands on my cheeks.
“Riley,” she whispers. “Are you a virgin?”
I gulp, realizing this is the moment of truth. I could make something up, but it seems stupid at this point. She’s already seen all I have. Isn’t it better to be honest than make a fool of myself? Hal’s words from yesterday return to me and I remember what he said about the Taneyemms and honesty: they value it above everything else.
“Yes,” I say. “I’m a virgin.”
“Holy dragons,” she murmurs. “This changes everything.”