Page 14 of My Human Wife

“You’re lucky you were able to leave,” she says through the translator. “It must have been quite horrific for you to have gone from a protected life with Lord Juo to the Fertility Goddess’s Temple. We currently don’t have a counselor onboard, but I’d recommend you speak to one and consider having that time erased from your memory.”

“I’m fine now,” I say but the doctor doesn’t seem convinced, but I can see on her face that she isn’t going to contradict me.

“Please follow Sem, he’s going to show you to your quarters. It’s not much, but you can bathe, rest and put on some clean clothing.”

I get up and follow the young man through more hallways, but these are less crowded. Then he opens a door for me. Inside is a single bed, a little window and what looks like a bathroom. I go in and he follows me and opens the little closet.

“You can wear these,” he says in heavily accented English. Seeing my surprised face he explains, “My mother was human. Most of us on this ship,” he swirls one of his grey hands around, “are half human or a quarter human.”

I nod, not really knowing what to say with this information. I feel overwhelmed. I’ve only seen Agnorrians in passing who have a humanoid shape for the last 15 years and now I’m surrounded by grey skinned humans and it’s kind of making me feel like I’m in a strange dream.

The young man reciprocates my nod and then quietly leaves.

I check the door after he’s left. It’s unlocked. I open and close it many times to make sure I’m not hallucinating. I even walk out into the hallway a few times and then walk back in.

Am I really free to move in and out of my room?

Well, as free as it is to be signed up with vigilante freedom fighters and married. Although I don’t know how real my marriage is and I may have to relive my worst hell soon and die, but for the moment I am free to open and close my own door which exhilarates me.

After I’m satisfied with the door situation I return to my small quarters and go into the bathroom. It’s nothing like the luxuryI’m accustomed to when I was in my cage in the menagerie, but compared to the Fertility Temple, it’s magnificent. I strip off the remnants of my gold clothing and turn on the water. When the temperature is right, I stand under it and watch as my gold coloring intermixed with blood and filth washes away down my legs, onto my feet, and away. I feel some sadness as I watch the gold-colored water turn clear.

Once I’ve washed myself with the simple soap I dry off and look for some kind of lotion for my skin. I find none, only a comb for my hair. I use it trying not to snap my hair that’s now knotted from the soap. When I’m satisfied that I could do the best I could, I find the clothing the young man Sem pointed out to me and put it on. It’s large on my frame and the fabric is coarse, but I tell myself that this is what freedom feels like and a human like me should expect no more.

I get into the small bed then which also has rough blankets and put my whole head underneath the covers because I’m cold. I realize the lights are still on but I’m too tired to get up and figure out how to turn them off, so I just look at my dim little cave under the blankets and think about Gael and everything that’s happened today. And I do my best to ignore thinking about the future.

I just want to live in this moment. Gael the Returner saved me. Just like from my childhood dreams. Except in those dreams not only did he marry me but we moved back to Earth and lived in a house like The Brady Bunch House.

He did marry me for whatever that is worth. But being here in this room doesn’t signal to me he sees it as real.

I wake up with a start. I don’t remember where I am, at first. I look around at the unfamiliar room and try to place it. After a second, I relax. I remember. I’m on Gael’s ship.

I get up and can’t resist opening my door. Again, I’m amazed it just opens and closes for me. No locks. No guards.

I’ve no idea what time it is, but it can’t be too early as I see a few people in the hallway as I play with my door. People stop and stare, but I just stare back at them. And then they stare back then they leave.

When a third person doesn’t walk away, I say, “What are you looking at? Humans opening and closing doors must be a common pastime on a ship that rescues humans from captivity.”

The young woman just gives me a look of sympathy and then finally walks away.

I know I should feel ridiculous from the pleasure I get from opening and closing my door, but it feels so good, I just can’t stop to care about what anyone else thinks of me right now.

“I heard you were playing with your door,” I hear the doctor say through a translator from behind me.

“Good morning, Hela. Have you been sent to check on my mental state?”

“No. I know you’re in your right mind. And it seems perfectly reasonable to me you take some pleasure in this.”

“Have you figured out my translator issue?”

“Yes and no. As far as I can see your Uru master made it impossible to change or remove your translator without causing you brain damage. It seems he was a very jealous master indeed. There does seem to be a release code but I’ve no idea how to go about finding it given that his belongings were ransacked and stolen.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised about my translator. He was a decent master, but he was ruthlessly protective of his property.”

“This being the case you’ll have to learn Imperial the old-fashioned way. Your tutor will meet you in an hour. Given the number of languages you already speak it should go rather quickly.”

I meet her eyes. “How much time do I have?”

“A little longer than a month, I imagine. You must learn enough to work the locks in Kamos’s palace.”

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