He waved the electric shaver over my neck and the small amount of pain I had from the injection went away.
“You need to move things along with Lord Elentinus or this egg, which represents a Dak-Hiliah life, will be wasted.”
I touched my neck.
There wasn’t any sign I’d had an injection.
“Isn’t it important for Lord Elentinus to follow the druids’ rules?”
“What would you know about that?”
He sneered and then looked away.
“The Degrees of Intimacy isn’t a rule, it’s a suggestion.
Something to be practiced if necessary, and it’s not necessary.
You’re adapting perfectly well.
There’s no need for you to be coddled.”
I pulled my finger out of the cancer machine.
“Hor-Denay,” I said, with forced restraint.
“I
do
need to be coddled.”
“Bah!”
“You know what?
It’s the least you guys can do.
This isn’t easy for me.
Just keeping it together is a huge—“
“Enough!”
Whore leaned on the counter and spoke to the wall in front of him.
“Do you have even the faintest idea how lucky you are?”
I was not amused.
“Tell me.”
“Lord Elentinus is kind, and wise, and fair.
He gives everything within him to serve our people.
He obeys our druids with joy in his heart, and reverence—even back when their rules were destroying us.
He shows your people more compassion than they deserve, and what do they give him in return?
You…you
women
.
You ungrateful, selfish, spoiled children who spit venom in his face.”
I stared at him a while after he was done.
Tears had built up behind my eyes.
I forced myself to swallow and said, “I didn’t spit venom in his face.”
“Not you.”
He dismissed me with a flick of his wrist, and spoke more softly.
“The other one, before you.”
There was a lot I could have spat.
Ungrateful?
I’m supposed to be grateful for being kidnapped?
Selfish?
Try self-preservation.
Spoiled?
Yeah, freedom does that to a girl.
Of course I kept it all to myself.
It was actually nice to see Whore expose himself a little.
I found his devotion to his master touching.
“Look, I can’t ‘move things along.’
I wouldn’t even know how to do that.”
“Tell him you’re ready at dinner tonight.”
“I’m not ready.”
He turned his back to me.
“What?
Should I lie?
I don’t think Lord Elentinus would want that.”
“He would if he knew you were fertile.
I’d expose this fact, but it will just upset him when you continue to play coy and a life is wasted.”
“Playing coy is me wanting it and pretending I don’t.
Do you really think I’m pretending?
I don’t even know this man!”
Whore stomped to the door.
“So incredibly selfish.
You’re no different than Sasha.”
I stayed planted by the counter.
I can’t believe this guy.
Whore stuck his head back into the room.
“Come on!”
I followed him with my arms crossed tightly in front of me.
***
Whore dumped me back in my cell and abandoned me.
I wandered downstairs to find Kang.
There was a cluster of Domestics next to a machine on the wall.
“Kang!”
My obedient little unit popped out of the herd and came to me.
I had him feed me (I asked for whatever was Elentinus’ favorite dish and got a yummy green chili sort of thing) then I made him keep me company in the seating area.
I asked for books, but whatever books were left in my new reality were too sacred and fragile for me to handle.
“Texts are read from anodic tablets, mistress.
I do not have permission to provide you one at this time.”
“What about TV?
Television?
You guys have that?”
“There is not a dedicated broadcasting unit available on the ship, mistress.
Programs can be viewed on any terminal.
Unfortunately, I do not have permission to allow you access to one at this time.”
This didn’t disappoint me all that much, but it made me curious.
“Why don’t they want me on the tablets or terminals?”
“May I ask the reason for this inquiry, mistress?”
This befuddled me.
“I’m just trying to figure out what forms of entertainment are available.
It sounds like all my options are off-limits.”
“I understand, mistress.
It is acceptable for me to respond to your inquiry, then.
The restrictions placed on you are not intended to block your access to entertainment.
You are not permitted to access the other functions available on these devices.”
I nodded in realization.
“Oh.
You guys don’t want me on the Internet.”
“No, mistress.
Passive browsing of the wider universal network would be permissible.
Using the network for communication with unapproved parties would not be permissible.”
“Got it.”
I held back that I thought the restrictions were ridiculous.
Who would I contact?
I didn’t know anyone except for Whore and Elentinus.
“You entertain me then.”
I stretched out on the couch and put my feet up.
“Tell me about the Dak-Hiliah.”
“What would you like to know about the—“
“Just tell me their history.
The Cliffnotes version.
Um, that means for you to summarize.”
“It would be most acceptable for me to explain the Dak-Hiliah history to you.”
What he started with wasn’t history at all, but their creation myth.
Apparently they had lots of different gods and their lives were either good or bad depending on which god had the most power.
The druids were the living embodiments of the gods.
He kept telling me about amazing things they did, which they shouldn’t have been able to do given the technology at the time, but managed because of their god magic.
Usually a benevolent god was in the holiest seat (where the druid in charge sat).
Sometimes it was an evil god.
From ancient times to modern day, the ups and downs in their history coincided with which kind of god was in charge.
I took a bathroom break and had more of the coffee substitute.
Then I kept listening.
The Dak-Hiliah was a race from one of the countries on their home world.
They had wiped out or subjugated all the other nations over the course of two thousand years.
“Members of these subservient races still exist today, mistress.
Hor-Denay is an Etiken, for instance.”
“You don’t say.”
He summarized their technological advancements next.
The druids were the ones who had given them the gift of space travel.
I kind of switched off during his run-down of all their achievements, but I perked up when he talked about the first aliens they encountered.
The Dak-Hiliah had pretended to be peaceful at first, but then conquered them and forced them to be their soldiers.
They did the same thing to a number of other worlds.
A group of planets that were active in space travel had formed an alliance against them.
A few hundred years ago Earth had joined the
Alliance
.
“The Dak-Hiliah declared war on Earth 28 years ago.”
“Why?”
“It was discovered that human females could be made compatible for breeding with Dak-Hiliah males.”
“That…that’s it?
So they just declared war?”
“Earth refused to surrender their women willingly.
Since the females from other alliance worlds were not compatible for breeding, the Dak-Hiliah did not target them.
Earth’s allies were warned not to get involved.”
I was flabbergasted.
“Okay, so…”
“Even without much ally support, Earth put up formidable resistance.
Numerous human females lost their lives in the conflict.
After over two decades of intermittent fighting the Dak-Hiliah withdrew.
At this time the Instajants began their colonization of
Alliance
space.
The druids gifted the Dak-Hiliah with the vaccine to prevent Instajant infection.
This vaccine was supplied to all the
Alliance
worlds except for Earth.”
“Holy crap.”
“As was expected, this ultimately led to Earth’s surrender to the Dak-Hiliah.”
“If the Dak-Hiliah can travel back in time why didn’t they just go into Earth’s history from the beginning and take whatever women they wanted from back before we could defend ourselves?”
“The Dak-Hiliah did not have the gift of time travel at the start of the war, mistress.
The druids provided this gift as a solution to the problem of Earth’s decimated population
after
the Instajant’s invaded them.”
“Why not use the time travel to go back when there was plenty of Dak-Hiliah women and just get a bunch of them?”
“More Dak-Hiliah women will not resolve the problems that led to their near-extinction in the first place.
Bringing in women from a race exempt from the will of the druid Shindray was the only viable answer.
This has created a permanent need for the Dak-Hiliah to interbreed with Earth women.
It is the reason the remaining Earth women from the present time are being allowed to repopulate Earth.”
My head started to hurt.
“What’s the deal with Shindray?”
“Maritza.”
I jolted.
Whore had sneaked up behind my couch and grabbed my shoulder.
I looked back at him.
“It is time for you to prepare for your dinner with Lord Elentinus.”
***
I stopped to freshen up in my cell.
Whore stood in the doorway and watched me brush my hair.
“It’s good that you’re trying to look pretty for him.”
I eyed his reflection in my mirror.