Elentinus moved beside me and touched my arm.
I looked at him, but his gaze remained fixed on the scene.
“What do you expect to see today, Maritza?”
I turned away.
The question put some dread in my stomach.
I took a deep breath and said, “A slave labor camp.
Hopefully one that’s not as bad as a Nazi concentration camp.”
“I’m not familiar with your reference.”
He still didn’t look at me.
“What if it is as bad as what you fear?”
It couldn’t have been, but the mere suggestion made me furious.
“Then you have to fix it.”
He made no response.
The conversation made my shoulders tense.
If he was worried about me seeing this then there must have been something to worry about.
It couldn’t be that bad, could it?
Not on Elentinus’ watch.
We heard a girl’s voice.
All our heads darted towards the source in unison.
We couldn’t see anyone past a huge mass of blackberry brambles.
Elentinus zipped past me toward it.
“No one’s supposed to be out this far.”
I gathered up Inga and followed.
The Defenders whirred along with us.
One of them plowed ahead to trample open a path.
“Don’t move, humans!” the Defender said through a booming speaker.
I heard several women scream.
We ran through the break.
There were seven girls:
most teenaged, two adults, and one elderly.
They wore plain green frocks and bandanas.
Each had a large tote bag loaded with berries (though one was spilled on the ground).
They stood clustered with wide eyes fixed on us.
One of them was eating berries out of her bag.
Past them I saw two Defenders who hadn’t come out of the ship.
They rolled forward.
“Lord Elentinus,” one of them said, “the women are out here with our permission.”
I heard a piston.
The Defender who’d plowed ahead was pulling a little cannon back into one of his compartments.
Elentinus approached them.
We timidly followed behind.
“That is fine,” he said in English.
“I apologize for startling you.”
Everyone relaxed.
“Sokay,” said the younger of the two adults.
“No prob,” said the old woman.
“You smashed a shit-ton of blackberries, though,” said the shortest girl.
She looked Hispanic.
“Would you shut up, Jules?” a teen with a blue streak dyed in her hair said, “These are the falacking aliens.”
“I’m just sayin.”
The girls turned toward Jules, who appeared to be the youngest, and scolded her.
She ignored them and held out her tote.
“You want some blackberries?”
I got a surge of joy that almost broke me into tears.
There’s no way this was a Nazi level concentration camp.
I went to her.
“I’ll try some.”
“Who the Hell are you?” a lanky brunette with a dark tan said.
“I’m…”
I looked back at Elentinus who gave me a Dak-Hiliah nod.
“I’m Lord Elentinus’ wife.”
A few of them gasped.
One pointed her thumb at Inga.
“Are you the other one’s wife?”
“What the fuck are you people doing?” Inga said in English.
“You just come out here and pick fucking berries?
Frolic about all day?”
“I want an alien husband,” the younger adult woman said.
“How do I sign up?”
“Me too,” Jules said.
“What are they saying?” Nayjoor said to Elentinus.
“No we don’t fucking frolic around all day,” the lanky brunette said to Inga.
“We work our asstistas off.”
“You’re too young to marry anyone, Jules!”
“Be silent!
All of you!” Whore said in English.
The women gawked at him.
Jules sneered.
“How dare you all chatter about like fools before your ruler, Lord Elentinus.
Collars can be affixed to your throats easily enough.
Perhaps examples need to be made of you.”
Jules’ sneer evaporated.
I hated the fear I saw in their eyes.
Of course they knew what he was talking about.
This place was still far from my ideal.
The older of the two adult women touched her throat.
She spoke through burgeoning tears.
“I’m pregnant.”
Whore scoffed.
“You think that will spare you?”
“Stop it, Hor-Denay!”
I strode out in front of him.
“No one’s getting shocked, for God’s sake.”
“That’s not for you to—“
“Hor!” Elentinus said.
Whore withdrew to the back of the group.
“I’m sorry about that,” I said to the women.
“That’s his asshole servant, don’t even pay attention to him.
Lord Elentinus isn’t cruel like that.”
The women’s postures slackened in relief.
“Oh thank God.”
The pregnant one took my hand.
“Thank you.”
Nayjoor gave me a start by appearing beside me.
He grabbed a fistful of blackberries.
“I don’t know what they’re saying, but I want to try these.”
We all tried them.
I could see there were plenty more in the bushes around us.
“Have you eaten these before?” Elentinus asked me in the Dak-Hiliah language.
“Oh, sure.
We had them in my day.”
“You speak their language?” Jules said.
I nodded.
“I can learn their language, too,” the younger adult said.
“So how do I get on the wife list?”
“You want to trade with me?” Inga said.
“Fucking fine.”
The woman looked at Nayjoor and shrugged.
“I’ve seen worse.”
My brow rose.
“You want to be treated like a slave and get shocked every fucking day?
Huh?”
Damn it, Inga.
The woman’s lip curled.
“Ew, no.”
Elentinus placed his arm around my waist.
“We should continue with our tour, my darling.”
“I’ll take a husband like him, then.
Any of those around?”
I smiled.
“This one’s mine.”
Jules giggled.
“She seems happy enough.”
The younger adult gestured to me while speaking to Inga.
“Psh.”
Inga turned her back to them.
We went back to the road toward the barracks.
The Defenders flanked us, four on each side.
“Did you hear that woman?” I said to Elentinus.
“Why don’t you get some wives from the colony?”
“We promised to only take wives from the past so Earth’s population could recover.
It was part of the surrender agreement.”
I frowned.
(Nayjoor was huffing and puffing as he walked behind me).
“It does seem like a missed opportunity,” Elentinus said.
“The women outnumber the men by a considerable margin here.
The male population had already been depleted during the war with us before the Instajants invaded.”
“Can you…revise the surrender agreement?”
Elentinus made a sinister smile.
“I can do whatever I wish, Maritza.”
I pursed my lips.
“The reason I hesitate is because we want other worlds to know we abide by our surrender agreements.
They must feel able to submit to us without any uncertainty.
Otherwise it could prolong fruitless resistance.”
“Hm, yeah.
Wouldn’t want that.”
He gave me a sideways hug.
I saw there were some people and two Defenders waiting for us where the road entered the complex.
As we drew nearer I could see a paunchy man with thinning grey hair and an unruly grey beard along with a black woman wearing a head scarf and a thin elderly white woman clutching a gnarled walking stick.
The man move to block Elentinus once we drew near.
“What’s going on?” the man said, “I don’t have all the pregnancy tests done yet.
It hasn’t even been a week.”
“Cease with your confrontational tone, Dugan.”
As he spoke he signaled the man to get out of his way.
“I am not here on business.”
Dugan met my eyes briefly.
“Alright then, Lord Elentinus.
I apologize.”
He stepped aside.
“So why did you come?”
“Our brides wished to see the compound.”
He brought me forward with a light touch on my back.
“Maritza, this is Dugan, Esther, and Magpie.
They are representatives for the three jurisdictions of the colony.”
He tipped his chin at Dugan.
“This is my wife, Maritza.”
Dugan looked puzzled.
“Did you…dye your hair?”
I shook my head in confusion, but then realized why he asked.
“Oh, no.
You’re thinking of Sasha.
I’m the new wife.”
“What happened to Sasha?” Esther, the black woman, asked.
My bottom lip quivered in hesitation.
I glanced at Elentinus, but he kept his eyes lowered.
“They divorced.”
“Okay,” Esther went on, “so where is she?
She’s not in the colony.”
She looked at the other two.
“Is she?”
“Not in my pods,” Magpie, the thin white woman, said.
“The only new people I have in my pods are babies,” Dugan said.
“What business is it of yours?” Whore said.
Esther looked at him and gulped, but then set her gaze back on me.
“Where did she go?”