"Ah, alien abduction. I would laugh but my head is killing me." She waited for the other to reply.
"It's not a joke," Nadia deadpanned.
A small smile cracked on Ellis's lips and she nodded. "So, what happens next? Do I get anally probed and my chest cut open to see what is inside? Is a lobotomy due?" Well, this is what the people who were kidnapped by aliens said, right? Not that she believed in it. "Can I leave after that?"
Nadia's smile didn't falter as she shook her head. "Sorry. You can't leave." At that point, Ellis was sure that the smile was plastered on the woman's face. If she truly were an alien, it would be comparable to the white-faced monsters people often fantasized about.
"So, what do I do after the probing?" Ellis asked blandly. This joke was getting sour quickly.
"We've retrieved you because you are a perfect genetic match for the Emperor of EN-4396. Therefore, you are going to become the new Empress."
Sure, little old Ellis Steward, soon to be a lawyer for the oppressed people was going to be part of the royalty. If that was not the biggest celestial fuck you possible, she didn't know what was.
"I'm offended. Did you think I would jump at joy?" she scoffed. "You can't hold me against my will. That's kidnapping. I can sue you." She patted her sides for her cell phone but soon realized that she didn't have pockets. In reality, she wasn't even wearing the same clothes from the beach. Instead, she had been adorned in a silver shimmery tunic similar to the one Nadia was wearing.
"Ellis, Earth laws don't apply when you are out of the planet."
"I'm sure kidnapping people in space is also illegal," Ellis played along.
"No, I would say you are down on luck. You're not in the same galaxy, forget about the same solar system. This area doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of your human rules."
"And what the hell are these clothes?" she hissed.
Nadia gave her a bland look. "The material of your clothes is incompatible with the conditions inside the aircraft. We had to put you out of it so that you weren't miserable when you woke up. We'll keep you in those close as long as you are residing in our galactic station. Thereafter, you'll be wearing clothes that suit the culture of your new Emperor."
"What a crockpot of utter bullshit." She shook her head in disbelieve. "Let's think about this for a moment. Humans haven't been able to go far into space with passengers, but an advanced race that has the technology to do so is still stuck at a monarchy? Don't make me laugh."
Nadia remained silent.
"Give me my clothes back. I don't want to be part of this stupid prank you are pulling. I am leaving. Now!" she shouted the last word.
Nadia walked across the room and pulled out a little tablet and pressed on it. A massive image appeared in the room, nearly missing Ellis's body. It was the image of a galaxy that spun slowly.
She reached forward, needing to feel the texture of the floating image. To her surprise, her hand went through. The opaque image swallowed her hand. She pulled it back instinctively and rubber her eyes.
This was out of a fantasy movie... or something Tony Stark would have. But this type of technology shouldn't exist.
"This is your galaxy, the milky way," Nadia started to explain calmly. "This is your universe." The picture zoomed out and Ellis saw a tightly packed space with numerous galaxies.
"Similarly, in a separate universe, we will be going to this galaxy. Within it, your jurisdiction will be in this solar system." God knew how many trillions of lightyears away it was from Earth.
"That's not possible. Even if we traveled at the speed of light, it would take trillions of years and then some magic to reach another universe altogether."
'Explain that!' she thought smugly.
"Well, at light speed, bodies become infinitely large. To move between distances, the aircraft can fold space and time to reach the destination," Nadia concluded. A representation of what she had just said appeared on the screen.
"Yes, you could have tried a little harder to make it believable, you know?" Ellis rolled her eyes. Her headache was getting worse and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
"Ugh, I hate the ones who think they are smart. I rather prefer the ones that bawl." The smile finally fell from Nadia's face.
"You could at least have appeared as an alien if you wanted me to buy your story. Don't test my intelligence, please." Ellis challenged.
"I am your holder. My job is to help you transition and give you enough information to survive on the planet you are headed. The government officials think that it is better if someone from the same species greets the newbies."
Nadia looked irritated.
"Well, show me a real alien, then. I don't care for humans, I've seen them for twenty-four years of my life. And in abundance. You know how overpopulated Earth is." She gave Nadia a saccharine smile.
"Well, if you really want to." Nadia shrugged. She pressed a button on the pad and a moment later, someone entered the room. Ellis looked closely and frowned.
"Damn, that's a really well-made costume," she admitted. She dropped down from the bed and walked towards the... thing. She took a turn and frowned. The SFX crews could do some costumes but this... it didn't look fake.
Ellis down at the thing and tilted her head towards the side.
The body was completely hairless, the skin as smooth as a boiled egg. The shade of its skin was a strange orange. That could all be possible, but the four muscular arms that looked misplaced on the thin body. That stood out.
Three googly eyes, thin slits for nostrils, and a lipless opening that was supposed to be a mouth.
"This is Nin," Nadia declared. "She's been specifically chosen to protect you."
"My bodyguard?" Ellis asked softly.
The whole situation hadn't set in yet. And it took time. A lot of time.
"She identifies as female?" she asked, just for reference. Making do with human knowledge than trying to process everything.
"Yes," Nadia said, closely scrutinizing Ellis's expression.
"Nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand and shook the creature's hand. The feeling of their skin touching sent the information home.
Nin didn't speak. Ellis couldn't figure out any reaction so she stared absentmindedly.
On Nadia's command, Nin left.
"Now do you believe me?" she asked, turning to her with sarcasm lacing her words.
She was finally starting to, unfortunately. Ellis produced a garbled reply, her body shaking violently and her head swimming. She was going to faint. She was going to faint any second.
And she did.
The first thing she saw when she awoke again was Nadia's face. Another round of palpitations plagued her. Her senses seemed to be drowned underneath water and she was staring at this other human's face who had little sympathy for her."Deep breaths," Nadia commanded. "Come on, breathe through it!"Though the voice sounded faraway, Ellis followed it. After a few minutes, she felt her racing heartbeat slow to a near-normal pace."Why me?" she asked finally. "Out of all other people in these universes, why was I picked to be the Empress? Surely, the Emperor would prefer to marry someone of his own race."As awkward as it sounded coming out of her mouth, she knew it was not derogatory. Marrying another species wasn't the norm when she was on Earth, so she couldn't see why it would be so anywhere else."Well, Zothea, the planet you will be living in most of the year, is actually much more advanced than humans. They found species that are gen
Nadia shook her head. "No, he's a Zothean. And Nin is not biologically compatible with Zotheans," she informed, her voice filled with sarcasm.'Sorry, Miss Attitude. You look old enough to know none of this makes sense. Don't give me shit for not knowing the reproductive compatibility of aliens.'"I'll show you what he looks like." She tapped on the pad and a man's image projected into the room."He has anthropomorphic features," Ellis evaluated. Not too shabby. The man had wild hair on top of his head, looking like he had rolled on the ground prior to taking this picture. Moreover, it was an odd shade of yellow. If she were an art major, she could have pointed out the exact shade. It didn't look bleached, though. It seemed to be naturally silky."The quality of these pictures is great," she commented with great awe. Then she noticed the golden spots on his pale skin. And his skin was rather pale."Yeah, they look very human. A few mino
"Well, what about you? Did you have a husband?" Ellis asked. This time she was polite. She started to sympathize."I did. They call them mates here. Mine died so I went back into the pool. It will take a long time to find someone new, though." Nadia's voice was tight as she replied.Ellis quieted down. "I'm sorry to hear that. But can I ask why it will take a long time?"Nadia's jaws tightened visibly. "I'm not a high priority. You, on the other hand, would be. Don't ask me why. I don't make the rules. If you refuse the Emperor, you'll be quickly matched with someone else."Ellis nodded. She'll find some way around it when she reached Zothea. For now, she needed only that information. She could deal with everything else as it came to her."How long will it take for us to get to the Emperor's planet?"There was silence. "We reached when you fainted. We transferred you to another room." She looked around and explained. "They
Laurel pointed to the man flanking on the left of the emperor. His hair was grey instead of yellow with golden eyes. Through the tight suit that the men wore, she could see that they were muscular."That one is my mate, Dorian. He's cute, isn't he?" she exclaimed. Ellis gave the man a glance and wondered which part of him was cute. He looked like a cat, a terribly scarred and abused cat. Well, she thought. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder."And the one on the other side is Leo, Logan's younger brother."Seeing her distracted, Logan inched closer. Ellis saw the movement and her eyes snapped towards him. Behind him, something moved and she stared to make sense of it. The shock hit her like a punch to her gut.A very long tail danced behind his head, the visible bits showing the color of his hair and the golden spots on his skin on it. A tail... the man she was supposed to marry had a tail.This was definitely not a smal
Ellis wanted to retreat but Logan and the two others stood behind her, effectively cutting off her escape route. The room had gone eerily silent as if they were waiting for something to happen.Without warning, she felt two firm arms grasp her and suspend her in the air. She closed her eyes, mortification coloring her cheeks as she hoped the ground would open up and swallow her.Why was she being treated like Simba from The Lion King? Sorry, she hadn't signed up for this. She'd long been an adult and being cradled and shown off like a newborn was the last thing she wanted with her life.Apart from being the Empress of an alien solar system, that is.She clutched at the arms that held her by her ribcage to make sure she wouldn't fall."Empress Ellis has arrived!" Logan's voice boomed. The room erupted into noise, the creatures banging the tables and shouting her name in unison.When Logan set her back on he
"They're carnivores," Laurel whispered. "I tried feeding Dorian a vegetable and he gagged and puked for the next three days. I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you want revenge for something." Laurel looked very pleased."Was your attempt an experiment or petty revenge?" Ellis asked, just to be sure."A bit of both," Laurel admitted honestly. "Of course, Dorian wouldn't reprimand me. He ate it willingly." She had an evil smirk on her face. Ellis nodded, suddenly enlightened about this woman sitting beside her.Logan's eyes remained on Ellis as did the eyes of some of the other men in the room. Ellis found it hard to eat while she was stared at. Finally, she knew how animals in the zoo felt. The men couldn't use her fingers as deftly as the human females could because of their claws, so they poked holes into the pieces of meat and popped them into their mouths.It seemed those claws could double as toothpicks, how fascinating.
Ellis was quiet for the rest of the ceremony. She was led back to a strange room. She had to admit that she was tired of these strange rooms.Considering the situation, she went to sleep in a large, circular depression in the room lined with pillows of all sizes and colors. She had to say that it was well decorated and looked cozy. When she opened her eyes, she had to wonder why it was so easy for her to sleep. She stretched her body and rolled over onto her stomach. She peered over the edge of the depression and saw Logan sitting on the floor with his back against the wall on the other side of the room.Ellis ducked down immediately, not wanting him to see her alone. Without the presence of another person in the room, Ellis wasn't sure how to interact with him. It just seemed so... foreign to her."I won't hurt you," he said. His voice was husky and deep, quite pleasing to hear. She wondered if this was the little chip in her brain making his voice
She could spend hours browsing through all of this and not get tired. To her delight, a section of the library was dedicated to books on law and governance, with case files and newspapers in them.No, it would be too rude to ignore Logan and read through these. She forced herself to give it back to him and sit silently."I'm glad you like it," he said. "I asked for Laurel's advice. She said you would need a comfortable and fluffy chair on which you can read, so I ordered it. It should be in transit as we speak."Ellis gave a small smile. "Yes, a fluffy chair does help. May I ask why you have so many cushions in the room?" she asked."Dorian had to buy a lot of pillows when Laurel first came. She likes to sleep amongst them. She told me that you would like it too." He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling."And you don't like them?" she teased. Cats do love pillows, especially sleeping on them or tearing them apart.