Page 22 of My Human Wife

“I only look healthy on the outside. In my mind, I’m completely disfigured. I’m hardly human at all anymore.” But as soon as I say this, I realize it isn’t true. When I was with Gael and when he was kissing me, I was as human as I’d ever been. “Actually, I do have some advice, make yourselves as docile as possible and an Imperial will want you. It’s your best chance of survival.”

“Who are the Imperials?”

“The ones who look human but are grey.”

“We’ve not seen any of them,” another woman says from across the cell.

“They’ll be here for the auction. And also know, it’s illegal now to own humans.”

Talking breaks out throughout the cell. “How are we here then?”

“Where are the alien police to stop this?”

“I know. It’s complicated and illegal that we’re all still here. But know that if you get a galactic citizen to set you free than you are free.”

“How do we do that?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be here,” I say. Ironically, it’s the truth. I don’t even know if I was really free once I married Gael and the abbess let me go. I wish now I would’ve asked just so I could say to myself, ‘I was free for a short time and I can be free again.’

“Anything else you don’t know?” a teenager asks.

I look at her with pity. She’s so young. “Don’t let them break you. Learn to speak their languages and know that there’s a resistance group called Terra Ka.”

“Terra Ka what does that mean?”

“Earth Blue. They are vigilante justice seekers. They know you’re here and will try to rescue you. Every human abducted has one galactic year during which they can be legally repatriated back to Earth. After that, you’re stuck out here. I’ve heard that there are human traders who do make a living in the galaxy, but I’ve never seen any.”

“You seem to know a lot for someone in the same circumstances as we are.”

The young woman next to me defends me, “She’s been here for 15 years and is still alive.”

Then the whole cell goes quiet. I take the young woman’s hand in mine and give her the small vial of poison. “If things get too tough, take this. You’ll fall asleep and never wake up. There are some aliens that may buy you and a peaceful death would be better than what they would want from you.”

She reluctantly takes the vial. “How will I know which are the bad ones?”

“Trust your instincts. We’re human we can still recognize our predators by sight and smell.”

I hear Kamos and his entourage arrive before I see them. There’s chanting and shouting that becomes louder and louder as he gets closer. Our cell has no windows. It’s not like the one below it which is all windows for display. I feel sorry for whoever is down there now. I know what they’ll be forced to do unless this Octopod trader has changed his ways. Unlikely.

When Kamos has arrived at our stall the shouting becomes even louder as I assume the show below has begun.

“What’s happening?” the young woman next to me asks in a frantic voice.

“A very powerful mafia Imperial called Kamos has come to buy some human pets.”

The women around me start freaking out.

“Human pets?”

“What? We aren’t pets!”

“You said this is illegal. How is this possible?”

“I want to wake up from this nightmare!”

The young woman next to me asks, “Is he one of the grey guys?”

“Yes.”

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