Page 18 of My Human Wife

g.“But you still maintained your human language even after puberty despite being the only human.”

l.“My master imported entertainment from Earth to keep me occupied when I was alone. I also had an AI totalkto, but that pretty much just always told me what I wanted to hear. Lord Juo would have it rebooted every so often because it began coming up with scenarios of how I could escape. One of its solutions was suicide. Lord Juo wanted the ‘perfect human specimen’ and he couldn’t have that if I was thinking about death.”

g.“That must have been very lonely,” I say imagining being stuck in a cage and the only physical contact she had was with tentacled aliens touching her erotically. I reach out my hand to cover hers. “You’re here with us now. Humans and Imperials are the same. We have the same DNA and after you return from Kamos, I swear you’ll never be locked in a cage as the perfect human specimen ever again.”

l.“I don’t like being called that.”

g.“Good. You shouldn’t. And remind yourself of that when you feel like you can’t learn Imperial. That’s what Imperials like to believe that humans are too stupid to speak their language. That’s what makes them different from Agnorrians or the Uru. Imperials know humans are genetically the same but use their high position in the galaxy to exploit humans for their own pleasure and economic gain. With every Imperial word you learnyou are taking away some of their power. Now are you ready to begin?”

l.“I’m ready to be liberated. Give me the keys to do it.” I feel the ancient lovers’ ring heat up and I look at Gael for an explanation. He’s wearing the matching one.

g.“When we are both happy or determined and close by they become warm. That’s how you’ll be able to signal me when the time comes, through your emotions. I can feel your emotions and you mine. If we feel the same they become very warm like they are now. But if we heighten them even more over a period of say, at the 15thhour, on the 5thday of the week that can be our signal.”

l.“Why would anyone create rings that do that?” I ask, looking at the ring as if it’s going to do something else. I’ve only ever heard of tech jewelry but never worn any.

g.“As a reminder to think about the other person.”

l.I stop myself from saying, ‘And your parents wore these even though she was a pet?’ Obviously, it was a very complicated relationship for him. Instead, I say, “Thank you for taking the time to teach me.” He puts his other large grey hand across the table. Now he’s holding both of my hands. His green eyes meet mine. And I feel like I can’t breathe. Images from yesterday pass through my mind, him with his head between my legs and I can feel my body become aroused for him. I’m sure he must feel the same because our rings become frighteningly hot. I want him to enter me again with his ridged phallus, lick my clit, and whisper in my ear.

g.I can smell her fresh desire and see it reflected in her eyes. More than anything I want to throw her across this table andravage her petite human body. But how can I do that knowing what I know about her past and her future? I don’t want her to ever think of me as a man who took advantage of her for sex. I’m her husband after all. I force myself to think of the most unsexy thing I possibly can and say sincerely, “You are risking everything for me and Terra Ka. It’s a privilege to teach you what I can.” I hold her gaze hoping that these won’t be the only days I know Lara, my human wife. “Now let’s begin, repeat after me…”

Lara

I fall down on my bed not bothering to take off my clothing. It’s so late. I’m exhausted. Imperial is a sophisticated language with complex grammar and the possibility for compound word combinations is endless. And Gael is a demanding teacher. I can still hear his voice ringing in my ears, ‘That’s the wrong tone. You’ve just said you sing like an eggplant. Do it again.’

As I drift off into that strange place between conscious and subconscious Gael is there waiting for me. I tell him I’m too tired to practice anymore and that all the tones are muddled in my head. But then he extends his hand to me and tells me we’re going to practice something else entirely.

I’ve spent my life hiding my emotions, so I hide them now. I don’t want to let Gael know how attractive I find him. Every part of him. And how much I wish our marriage was real but in the last few weeks, he’s made no effort to show any romantic affection towards me. The only thing I have now is my memory of us at the Fertility Temple and my dreams. I take his hand and he leads me to a bedroom. A nondescript dream bedroom.

“I want to seduce you,” he says in the dream.

I don’t trust myself to respond so I say nothing. But I want him. I’ve endured males my whole life, but Gael has awakened something inside of me that I never knew existed. I never understood why any woman would willingly chase a man. But now.Now I know.I want Gael so much and I want all of him, not just the sex. I think this is love. I’ve never loved anyone but the more time I spend with Gael, the more he teaches me about Terra Ka and the Imperial language, the more I want to be with him.

Gael begins touching me with his large hands and then suddenly… my alarm is going off.

I open my eyes. My hands are between my legs, my thighs are wet, and my lights are all on. It’s morning.

“Well, this isn’t impressive,” I say to myself. I never used to have dreams like this, but now it’s almost every night. I get out of bed and go to the toilet. Then I take a quick shower. I don’t want to smell like I’ve been touching myself, not that I have much of a reputation to uphold since I was kept as property and then rescued from the sex temple, but I don’t need to give anyone anymore reminders of what I’ve done.

Once I’m dressed, I hurry to breakfast. Gael doesn’t keep strict Imperial hours on his ship, but he does like everyone to eat breakfast at roughly the same time. He says it makes for a more harmonious crew.

I run into the dining hall and quickly take some food from the buffet, plain porridge and tea. Breakfast isn’t over yet but I was one of the last to come in. The others look up at me and those close to me greet me with the standard morning greeting which I can now reply with my basic Imperial. I feel everyone on this ship looks at me with mixed emotions. Sometimes pity and othertimes curiosity. And I feel the same way towards them. How strange that one of their parents was human and was kept like a pet? And how they now have dedicated their lives to saving humans, but when they look in the mirror, they only see grey Imperial faces.

I briefly breached the subject with Gael but he said his appearance was a reminder of everything that could go wrong in the galaxy which didn’t make sense to me, but he told me there wasn’t any time to talk about it. He says that about a lot of things, and I always let it go. What do I really know about the galaxy? I’ve only watched it from a safe distance.

But looking at the crew of theSisuI can’t help but wonder what I would do with a half Imperial child if I became pregnant. Lord Juo made sure all my admirers were vetted and it was next to impossible any of them could impregnate me anyway, but I doubt Kamos will be so careful. In fact, he may want his pets to breed.

If it happened to me, what would I do?Would I keep the half Imperial child or give it away? Would I even have a choice?

Gael reckons it’ll take me a few months to accomplish my goal, but I know more about seducing men and fooling women than he does. I think, at the earliest, I’ll be able to accomplish this in a year.

I remind myself of the girls who’ve just been dropped at Gala. If I can get the device back in under a year, then Gael can initiate his most powerful plan yet to date, according to him. I, of course, don’t know all what it’ll entail, except his word that hundreds of humans will be saved. I have no reason not to believe him as he’s renowned for repatriating humans.

My mind won’t let it go though. He’s also known for killing those he can’t save.

Just then Gael enters the dining hall. We all look up as he’s clearly not getting breakfast.

Gael and Lara

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