Page 1 of My Human Wife

Lara

“No! For the love of the goddesses! You can’t leave me here!” I scream as I run barefoot on the sharp stones. “I’m not a believer!”

The Intergalactic Court representative doesn’t even turn around to acknowledge what he’s done. And I watch as he gets into his transport and leaves me on this stupid rock with one building, a temple to the fertility goddess. But let’s call it what it really is, a sex temple. A place for aliens to come to have interspecies sex legally and almost for free. Only a small offering is required.

This is the last place in the galaxy I want to be.

Admitting temporary defeat, I sit on the steps and cry a little. I’m pushed back and forth with the rhythm of aliens passing me by, going up and down the steps.How did I get here?Just two weeks ago I was the prized possession of my Uru master, a collector of rare art and species in the galaxy. I was covered in gold and preserved like a prized possession only to be taken out on special occasions. Important people traveled lightyears across the galaxy to see me. And now, suddenly I’m here, a human alone at one of the trashiest temples in the galaxy withnothing. The IGC took everything from me. My jewelry, my clothing, my leash. Anything that I could have sold for universal credits.

I’m not supposed to be here.

I look up at the sky which isn’t a sky at all, it’s a clear forcefield and the only thing separating the stone temple from deep space. This is a legendary rock which thousands of years ago a kinky religious zealot decided to make into a spiritual sex oasis in the badlands of the galaxy. It’s a place that I’ve only heard talked about in whispers. Not a place I thoughtIwould ever end up.I’m unique.My master always told me that and not just because I’m human. But now I have to question that.

If I’m so special why am I here?

I’m conflicted about my former master. Overall, he was good. I know I could have had it much worse. But he did keep others and myself as treasures. I’ve never even owned a pair of shoes, but my master said that fact was just a sign of my pampered life.

I look down at my feet now. They’re dirty and bloody. The soles of my feet hurt like they’ve never done before.

I look around and wonder if I’m free now. Technically humans are supposed to be free in the galaxy by a law passed last year.Is that why I’m here?I wish I had studied more about that law. But I never thought I’d ever be free. It wasn’t something I allowed myself to think about.

My mind jumps to the last time I saw my master, Lord Juo. I hid in an ornate cupboard while he was shot multiple times. The robbers were definitely Agnorrian as they wore Agnorrian uniforms, although they had helmets on so I couldn’t see their faces. They took almost his entire collection. Everyone from themenagerie except for me. When they were busy in another area, I quickly went to go hide in the kitchen freezer in the hopes that my life sign would be seen as a mistake at best or at worst, not worth having a look because I could just be an animal for dinner. However, before I could escape on my own, IGC officials showed up and began asking me about what had been stolen and who might have taken it. Of course, they didn’t question me too long. Most aliens don’t think humans are completely sentient.

I told them I didn’t know who the robbers were and then an IGC judge decided that I should come here. So here I am. I didn’t have any say in the matter and it’s practically a death sentence. Most aliens on this side of the galaxy are toxic to humans. If any of their sperm goes in me it’ll eat through me from the inside out. I wonder if that’s what the judge wants? Me dead. And now that humans are supposedly free, he couldn’t just sell me as a slave or have me executed without some paperwork so he sent me here.

What am I going to do?

It’s obvious that the only way in or out is with a transport. And how am I going to convince anyone to take me with them? What can I offer? Not much. I wonder if it’d be possible to steal someone’s ship. I have a good translator but my master educated me in a few languages so I can read and speak. It’s a funny thing about translators, most ships block them so it’s impossible to steal ships from another species unless you can read and speak some of their language. And that goes for weapons, locks, and most important things in the galaxy. The better universal translators become, the more advanced specific translator blockers work.

I eye the transports outside the temple. Most of them are Octopod and Agnorrian. I can read Agnorrian and I could fly anAgnorrian ship as long as it had autopilot. But where would I go? There’s nowhere really safe for humans except Earth, but I don’t even know where Earth is except that it’s far out on one of the most outer arms of the Milky Way. I remember a picture from my childhood,The Pale Blue Dot. Earth was a little dot barely visible through a scattered ray of sunlight. That picture was taken three billion miles from Earth. That distance is way too far for a transport, even if I was in Earth’s solar system, which I’m not. The chances that I can steal a transport, then a spaceship, and then get home are nil.

What do other humans do in the galaxy?

Most humans are owned. There are rumors though of humans being pirates or traders and having their own ships. I don’t know much about trading, but I do have a lot of diplomatic skills and of course I’ve been trained to be sexually pleasing. I might have something to offer a crew.

I only have myself to bargain with.

I try to be pragmatic. I push all my anxiety down. I straighten my shoulders and hold my head high, as if preparing to sell myself. I mentally go over what I have to offer. I inspect myself and realize it’s not just my feet that are filthy but my entire body. The gold paint that usually covers my skin has begun to chip off by the all hands that have touched me since my master’s death. I close my eyes willing myself to let the wave of emotions pass through me. It doesn’t work. My heart is beating so fast.

Am I going to die here with an alien over me? Death by alien sperm?

I rest my head on the top of my knees and watch as some of the gold from my blonde hair falls on the black stone steps and thenis swept away by alien appendages going to-and-fro up the stairs to the sex temple.

Suddenly from out of nowhere, a tentacled arm grabs me and I’m forced to look up. I follow the pain as the alien’s circular suckers purposely pull on my delicate skin. Tiny suckers pulling all over making my skin feel like it could be sucked off my bone completely.

“Obscene human! You’ve been sent here by the powerful Intergalactic Court judge Jin Kol. As such you are oursacredresponsibility until you fulfill your duty to the Goddess of Fertility. I will not allow you to waste away like trash on the steps of this blessed temple.”

I look up at a purple tentacled Uru nun and I suppress a laugh,Sacred, I’m sure. She has two small yellow eyes, two legs and eight tentacled appendages.

I ignore her for a moment as if she were an apparition. I’m not ready to accept this reality.

Clearly, she is not a phantom.

My head hits the stone step with a melon-like thud, and I feel my brain inside my skull bounce. I feel wet blood spilling from my head. I have no thoughts anymore. I’m a goldfish. I just watch alien feet, tentacles and shoes step over me, up and down. Suddenly, I feel my body being pulled over the uneven stones. I smile stupidly assuming I’ll be pulled to my death. The pain in my head is overwhelming. I want to tell the nun it’s a good thing she’s killing me because I don’t want to die from the toxin of some alien male’s sperm. I’d much rather my life be ended by a female who hates me for being a human than a male for carnal curiosity pleasure.

I close my eyes with the expectation of the great rush of memories everyone says happens when you die. I anticipate seeing my parents again. I remember leaving for school and kissing my mother good-bye. ‘Have a nice day,’ she said. It wasn’t aniceday. I was abducted and I never saw her again.

“Human! Open your eyes. This isn’t a holiday. This is the Fertility Goddess’s Temple, and you have a duty to perform.”

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