Page 6 of Gyft

I nod. “I’ve already petitioned for a dissolution. It should go through in about one rain season. By then, I’ll have collected her, consummated our brief mating, and all that’s left is the decree. I’m sure she’ll understand that we might not want to mention this to Earth, and that she can continue to do as she pleases here.”

“And did you mention that she’ll be ridiculed as a female scorned?”

I wave my hand as if the fact that males don’t petition for dissolution isn’t well known. It’s not like it’ll affect her anyway. I’m sure she won’t care about social standing.

“What will you do when someone tries to force her to become a slave?”

I bristle, not liking the way he phrases it. “It won’t come to that. She’ll stay in our city. It’s all she’ll know, after all.” Why wouldn’t she stay? I’m providing for her. It’s the least I can do.

But Minniel simply raises an arched brow. “We’ll see.”

I scowl at his obstinance. It’s not like he volunteered to take on the bride from Earth. We all know what excuse he probably used... no female would want such an ugly, scarred male despite his high command. “I’m doing my duty. If it were up to me, I’d say allow the lot of them to get wiped out by the Bril’tioks. Why the humans thought they could reach out to anyone in the universe and find a benevolent species is idiocy.”

Instead, they contacted a lawless species who always try to bend the Global Galaxy’s rules. A species that considers flesh of sentient beings a delicacy, and Earth practically offered their entire planet on a platter.

“Idiots or not, they’ve stumbled upon a way to cut travel time by safely traveling through black holes without gravitational implosion. They’ve managed to contact other life despite their primitive sound wave methods. We’ll save them because no one, not even the Bril’tioks, know about the shuttle they’re about to send your bride on.”

The Earthlings are smart enough to have a built-in explosive in their device, which is triggered whenever their robotics reach an exploratory planet after traveling through worm holes. But this time, this one time with the lead scientist’s own daughter on board, will the shuttle land without a detonation device for safety reasons. This is our one and only shot to study the shuttle.

And, of course, we’ll keep our end of the bargain and protect them from the Bril’tioks, a situation their foolish leaders got them into.

“In any case, her father is sending a read of her DNA,” Minniel says. “Once it arrives, we’ll be able to track her whereabouts and zero in on her long enough to download the language.”

“But a remote download takes so long to incorporate after the satellite laser finds her.”

He shrugs. “It can’t be helped. It’s simply a backup plan, anyway. You can retrieve her and bring her in for a real-time version and she’ll have it immediately.”

The frown tightens my forehead. If I have one week of freedom left, and it’s the week before the storms hit, I’ll enjoy my time.

The bride can wait out the cold season in her comfy little shuttle.

Chapter Three

OLIVIA:

I WAKE WITH a start, the last energy drink I sucked down coursing through my veins. Hours later? Weeks? Years? How long did the trip take?

I can’t believe they gassed me. What the hell? That’s the equivalent of date-rape. Anything could have happened. I could have gotten lost in space. I could have been blown up by their atmosphere entry. I could have slept through my chance to sneak away before alien guards come to retrieve their expensive prize. Hell, the gold I’m wearing alone is worth a fortune.

Leaning forward, I slap my palm on the dash to activate the view. The imagery that flares up makes me catch my breath. It’s a bright, sunshiny day on a strange, tropical planet, yet with a deep, shadowy overcast to the image like I’m viewing through sunglasses that don’t sit on my face. Maybe they don’t need pupil modification here. Trees reminiscent of palm, but much shorter. Like bushes. And yet, other trees have the branches covered in moss and they’re huge. From the information on the screen—they can grow up to two-hundred feet tall. That must be the shade canopy. Gah, I’m so stupid. It isn’t their atmosphere. We’re sitting in literal shade.

Absently, I trace a path on the map to where a city is named. I’m two miles west from the nearest trade city of H’liyio.

Awesome. I’ll find work there. Perhaps teach manners to the upper class. Or I could be a nanny. As long as their offspring don’t have slimysnot or grabby tentacles or something. Those cloaks are obviously worn to mask a frightening sight. That’s a little worrisome. I knit my brows, not even caring about wrinkles.

But best I hurry before someone on this dismal planet finds me.

From where I stay in the upright position, I quickly riffle through the cabinets in front of me. A first aid kit.

Really?

Nothing useful, then. Okay, no problem. I’ll hike it on foot to this city. With my decision made, I unsnap the seatbelt, which sets the shuttle into shut down mode. The dim, stasis lights go off at the same time the door slides open.

And floods the cabin with bright, bluish-white light and the scent of salt and dew. I take a deep breath, letting the heavy, damp air fill my lungs. It smells delicious, like fresh clean rain and ocean. Maybe it smells extra good because I’ve been cooped up in recycled air.

Two miles west of the nearest city.

I look around for the mountains, because the mountains are always west. But there are no mountains anywhere, just the most enormous trees I’ve ever seen. They’re as huge as... as a house. They’re so thick, I can’t even see the sky.

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