With the remainder of humanity in chains, Shasta keeps her head down and tries to weather the storm. Servicing the filthy needs of a superior alien race, each day passes in a blur, the struggle to survive outweighing everything else.
After ten years...
"I'm thirsty." I sit up, moving the damp hair that is stuck to my face. We've been busy for hours now, in several positions and on every surface, I need water.
"I will call for food and drink." He pulls his naked body away from me, taking his warmth with him.
My body is sore, so sore but I like it. It reminds me of good things. Before now, any soreness I felt was from sleeping on the floor or being used and abused. I will take this soreness any day. This is a reminder of time spent with someone who cares about my pleasure.
"I will be away again starting today. I have to continue to run surveillance before we move forward." He rejoins me on the bed.
Lazily running my fingers over the length of his horns, I try to swallow down questions that I don't want answers to. I know who he will watch and what they plan to do. The less I know about it the better.
When the food and drinks arrive, I'm relieved. I can feel him watching me, waiting for me to bring it up.
Unlike the normal routine, the person with the food does not hand it over and leave. Usually they don't look at me at all. This time, he looks uncomfortable and awkwardly asks Destroyer to speak privately in the hallway.
I remember a saying from home. My mom used to say it. Curiosity killed the cat. But damn, now I'm curious.
Sipping my water slowly, I wait for him to come back into the room.
"My presence is required immediately. I will return to you after one night. Wait here!" He rushes in, grabbing his uniform and pulling it on so quickly I hardly have time to stand up.
"Wait, is something wrong?"
"I have no time to explain. I will return swiftly." He rushes out the door leaving me bewildered.
On shaky legs, I walk to the door, pressing my ear to it. Are they under attack? I don't hear anything.
I'm going to be a ball of nerves until he gets back. A thousand scenarios run rampant in my mind. He didn't look afraid, just rushed, but I'm not sure that's a sound way to judge. He wouldn't look afraid no matter the emergency.
A sound at the door startles me from my nervous pacing. It's a light tap.
"Hello?"
"Hello?" A soft, woman's voice calls before the door opens.
"Oh my god! Fiona!" I rush toward her. "You're still here?"
Without thinking I pull her into the room. After what happened with her alien I worried for her. But I didn't ask Destroyer, he wouldn't have known anyway and he wouldn't have cared enough to ask on my behalf.
"I'm so glad that you're alright. I wondered after your alien..." I shrug.
"Yeah, they have allowed me to stay here and work. This place is so different than the Monturian ship. I just do my job and no one bothers me. It's actually peaceful." She looks calm. Her uniform is clean, her hair is combed and she looks like she's being fed regularly.
"Good." I feel an unexpected relief.
"Are you alright? I, um, I saw what happened yesterday." Her cheeks flush bright red.
"Oh, yeah," I wish I could melt into the ground. "That. I'm fine." I'm not willing to tell her anything voluntarily. I don't know how to explain to another human that I don't hate him. That he is good to me, in his own way. It feels like a betrayal. I should hate him, I should fight against this until my last breath but I realize how good I have it here.
"Your alien sent me here to check on you. He is... somehow more scary than the others but also not, if that makes sense." She shudders.
"Complete sense." I laugh at the accuracy. "He sent you here?" It shocks me that he even noticed her or that he took the time to send her here. Now my curiosity is back with a vengeance. Why would he do that?
Luckily, Fiona is chatty. I don't have to say much, she does most of the talking for both of us. By the time a tray is brought up for dinner, she has told me everything I could ever possibly know about her life before and since the invasion.
She is kind and friendly.
I don't really remember what it's like to have friends but this feels familiar. It makes me nervous. Caring for another person is dangerous.
"Do you want to build with the tiles? We can make something." I offer with the hope that it will keep us occupied enough so that I don't have to talk about myself.
"Sure!" She helps me bring them out. "I feel like a little girl again!"
"I know. Destroyer said they use these to make-"
"Destroyer?" Her face crinkles up. "You call your alien Destroyer?"
I didn't mean to let that slip.
"They don't have names the same way we do. That is what he is called. I didn't make it up." I shrug it off and click some tiles together.
"Is he kind to you? He tells you things and sent me to check on you. After yesterday, I thought maybe I was wrong about him but now I'm not sure." She tilts her head, trying to piece together whatever evidence she's gathered.
She's been thinking about us? I don't like that.
"He is kind to me. He has his way. It's not the same as what we would have expected on earth but for an alien, yes, he treats me well enough." I can't make eye contact with her. I don't want her to know it's more than that. She can't know.
Who would she tell? Would anyone believe her? Not likely.
"Why?" She turns to face me completely. "I don't mean to offend you so I really hope you don't take it this way but... why you? Do you think he's just nicer than the rest or is it you?"
Panic builds, starting with a pit in my stomach and building upward until it's pressure on my lungs and weight on my shoulders.
"He is decent. If he was told to kill me he would, without hesitation." I hope that this is enough to get her to stop asking questions.
Friendship is dangerous. Not just because caring about someone is dangerous but because people are nosy by nature. She's going to get me killed.
"Hey, I don't mean to pry." She puts her hands up. "It's been so long since Earth, I'm still trying to figure these aliens out."
"It's fine." I lie. It's not fine and I'm glad this conversation is over.
For several minutes we build a huge tower in silence. I can still see her mind turning, trying to figure out what is happening here.
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