“So,” he says. “What was the plan?”
“The plan?”
“Yes. What were you going to do when you landed on this world?”
“Oh. I was going to study the inhabitants and learn about them, eventually returning to the Authority as an expert on a new alien life form, skipping from courier to professor in one easy go.”
“By being mauled and violated by them?”
“I thought I’d stay undetected a little longer than I did, but my shuttle landed badly, and it was almost like they were waiting for me when I crawled out of the wreckage.”
“They saw you coming. They heard you coming. A shuttle coming through the atmosphere lights up like a star. It draws every curious creature in range. And then crashing, that makes a hell of a waypoint as well. Essentially, you truly could not have done anything more to make this worse.”
“Oh.”
“You really don’t know a damn thing about what you’ve gotten yourself into, do you?”
I sip on my drink and shake my head slowly back and forth. No. I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into. I really thought I’d zip over to a new planet, meet some aliens, and get famous. In retrospect, that was a harebrained idea, but I figured there were worlds just waiting to be discovered by someone brave enough to leave Authority territory.
“You’re outside the human protection zone,” he explains. “You’re fair game out here.”
“I did not know that. What’s the human protection zone?”
“Humans are a protected species inside the zone. Your species is very much in demand across the universe. The protection zone allows you to maintain a healthy breeding population.”
He is talking about us as if we are a rare kind of shrimp. I suppose, compared to the few aliens I have met lately, that might be an apt comparison. I feel particularly vulnerable right now, even sitting here sipping on my beverage.
“I’m surprised the Authority does not educate its interstellar pilots more thoroughly.”
“I’m not technically an interstellar pilot. I’m more of a courier with a science degree…”
“And you decided to take a quick detour around the nebula.” He finishes my sentence as if he has heard this story before.
“Yes,” I agree, somewhat shamefacedly.
“You are fortunate I found you,” he says. “Or you would be a…” He trails off, shaking his handsome head as if the words do not bear saying. “Humans need quite a bit of training and reinforcement to survive copulation with that species.”
A tremor runs through me at the way he speaks. Training and reinforcement. What does that specifically mean? Dare I ask?
I do not.
“Well, thank you for saving me,” I say politely.
“Don’t thank me yet.” He smiles charmingly. “I’m not an altruist, and you still have value.”
I have no idea what that means, but I get the impression he has a plan for me of his own. He is looking me over very thoroughly, as if assessing me for various purposes.
“If you take me back to Authority territory, I’ll make sure you get paid.”
“We both know you won’t. You’ll be sent to prison, and I’ll be out profit and a round trip. I have a better idea. One that profits us both. Well. I’ll get profit, and you’ll get to meet a wide range of alien species up close and personal.”
I drain my drink, really not liking what I’m hearing. I’m currently physically fine, but for how much longer? I should be grateful to be intact, I guess.
“But first, I am going to make sure you’re not injured. Take your clothes off.”
“I’m fine.”
“You just hit a planet. Take your clothes off. I need to make sure you’re intact.”
I get the feeling he’s not talking about medically intact. There’s something intimate in his eyes and in his voice. Everything and everyone on this planet wants to fuck me. Maybe it’s something in the air, a kind of carnal intensity I just slingshot myself right into.
“Go on,” he says, reaching out past me to the head of my chair and pushing it back.
It transforms into something more like a bed, not a comfortable one, but it puts me in position to be examined.
Zed crouches next to me. “Take that uncomfortable Earth suit off. It doesn’t mean anything anymore. You don’t answer to them. You answer to me.”
His last sentence hits me in my gut. I might have escaped the Authority, but I’ve found myself at the mercy of another authority, and this one has an even more intimate plan to use me. His purple gaze is magnetic. I know he could rip my clothes from me. They’re already torn from the monsters and the impact. It’s a good suit. It saved my life when a hundred thousand little bubbles of gas inflated the suit just at the right time, keeping me safe as my shuttle skipped across rock and trees like a stone across rough waters.