Page 3 of My Human Wife

“No one sold at Gala will ever forget the place. I’m quite sure.”

“And before Gala?”

“Earth.”

“You’re sure?”

I give her the side eye. “Yes, I am sure. It was Earth. I was eight Earth years old when I was taken.”

“Abducted?”

“Abducted, lured, whatever you want to call it. I definitely didn’t look at those disgusting green aliens and say, ‘Take me with you away from my life with my loving parents.’”

“By whom?”

“The Dulu of course. Why would you even ask?”

“Always the Dulu, those little green buggers,” she says under her breath. “And how long did you remain with them?”

“Not long. A few weeks.”

“How long were you at Gala?”

“Seven days.”

“You’re sure?”

“The Octopods that sold us fed us once a day and we fought over the food. It was a spectacle for potential buyers. So, yes, I am sure. It was seven days of hell.”

The nun bites her purple lip. “What happens there is a stain on the reputation of all the good people in the galaxy.”

“It’s more than a stain,” I say. “Those seven days I endured at Gala were worse than my eight combined galactic years as an exhibit in a menagerie.”

She clears her throat and takes on a professional tone, “And then you went straight into captivity with Lord Juo of the Uru Tribe?”

“Yes.”

She pauses and looks me up and down, slowly scrutinizing my body. “Do you know why he covered you in gold?”

“He said it was because it made me easier on the eyes.”

“And so it does. Your pale skin looks sickly. Are you ill? Your medical records and from what I can see with my scanner here report you as healthy.”

“This is the natural color of my skin, I’m not sick.”

“Well not everyone in the galaxy can be born beautiful,” the nun says just as much to herself as to me. “What are your skills?”

“I can be pleasing.” We are speaking Agnorrian and this phrase means ‘I am an entertainer,’ but Agnorrian doesn’t have the word as a profession because only slaves entertain. Agnorrians go to extreme lengths to try and prove to the rest of the galaxy they have no slaves. Which is true, they just have a lot of people who “are pleasing” and are unable to make any choices for themselves.

“Do you play an instrument or speak any languages besides Agnorrian?”

“I speak my human language, Uru, and a few others.”

“Imperial?”

“No.”

“That’s odd.”

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