Page 47 of My Human Wife

l.“Did you buy me?”

g.“I’ll not lie to you. UCs were exchanged but it wasn’t that simple. Your freedom was also dependent upon you. If you could escape with the teleportation suit, showing your intelligence, desire to be free, and your commitment to me and humanity, Kamos swore he’d give us passage and wouldn’t come after us. But he honestly didn’t believe you’d try to escape. You played your pet part very well. He was completely smitten with your pet stupidity.”

l.“How do you have a relationship with a man who actively is against everything you’re trying to do with your life?”

g.“We don’t have a relationship like you think. He’s my father, but I was sent away from the palace when I was a boy. I didn’t see him or my mother again until I was an adult. I hate him for what he did to my mother. But business is business and he’s a criminal just like I am. As far as human pet owners go he’s one of the better ones.” I hold up my hand before she interjects. “That doesn’t mean I condone it at all. Never forget my life’s mission. But unfortunately the galaxy is not black and white. To do good things, sometimes I must do bad things. I must have relationships with bad people and never forget, the galaxy sees me as a criminal just as much as it does Kamos. And we bothhave politicians and IGC officers sympathetic to both of our causes.”

l.I feel used. I take off the lovers’ ring and throw it across the room. “Then why did your mother and Kamos have those?”

g.“My mother had those with another man she loved. The Imperial man who founded Terra Ka and a man that I admired greatly until his death. And he died repatriating humans.”

l.Instantly, I feel guilty for throwing the ring. I quickly retrieve it. Placing it in Gael’s hand I say, “I’m sorry.”

g.“It’s a lot to take in. You were kept by Lord Juo for so long and although you were abused, you were ignorant of the way slavery works on this side of the galaxy.”

l.So many revelations are coming to me all at once, but I only have one question I want to know. “Are we really married? Or do you want to annul it? I don’t want to be someone’s pity prize. Nor do I want you taking me as your wife just to hold something over your father for leverage.”

g.I lean down and cup her delicate face in my hands. “Lara, I love you. I’d do anything for you including sacrifice myself. You’ve proved to me that you’d do almost anything for me, including sacrifice yourself too. Now we have a baby that is a blood relation to both of us. We don’t ever need to mention the circumstances of her conception. And trust me Kamos was going to see how that child looked and then decide her fate, just like he did mine and all my half-siblings. Kamos only misses the amount of UCs I paid him for you. Make no mistake, now I know you’re pregnant I know what I was paying for.”

l.I look directly into his green eyes. His sincerity is shocking. I want to believe in this fantasy but can I live with myself raisinga child here knowing who his father really is? “If I were to leave? Return to Earth?”

g.“That’s illegal and you know it.”

l.“That doesn’t stop you from going there illegally.”

g.“To return humans according to IGC laws. You know that. You’ve been gone from Earth too long ever to return. The Empire monitors Earth and they’d remove you and then you’d be in the same if not worse situation than you’re in now. The IGC would arrest you for my crimes and you would have to stand trial. They might let you off, but I don’t know. A human has never been put on trial before. I think you understand what your choices are but you don’t want to make a decision. But you must decide, Lara.”

l.I don’t want to be put on trial for Gael’s crimes, but I don’t want to kill him either. He does so much good for the galaxy and despite what he’s done to me, I still love him. “If I stay, what happens when our child grows up?”

g.“What do you mean?”

l.“You wouldn’t send her away. I haven’t seen any children here.”

g.“I would want you both to live at our base.”

l.“Terra Ka has a base?”

g.“Of course we do.”

l.“And our child can live there and be free?”

g.“As free as she can be. If she looks human that’ll be an issue unless the IGC moves faster than expected. New laws about species being free takes generations to take hold in daily life. Youhave your freedom. I won’t keep you with me if you don’t want to stay. But I want you to stay, Lara. I love you. I love what you’ve done for Terra Ka, for me, but most importantly for humans in the galaxy. I’m sorry your freedom has come at such a high cost. I’m sorry you’re now also responsible for my crimes and having my father’s child. But I can offer you a slice of galactic freedom on the Terra Ka base as my human wife. Please say it’s enough Lara.”

l.I look up at Gael. I realize now that I was never going to be truly free. I feel so much disappointment I waver, but Gael catches my elbow and steadies me. I reflect that I’m freer than I was yesterday.

g.It’s agony waiting for her decision. “I promise you can open and close all the doors as much as you want.”

l.“I will never be truly free, will I?”

g.“The law says you are free, but how quickly society moves, I don’t know. It might always be a fight. But our daughter will be freer than you. Be her steppingstone. And if she ever asks about her real father you can decide whether or not to tell her the truth, but know this, what you did by getting this teleportation suit will save countless other humans from suffering your fate. And inadvertently you’re being sold at Gala has pushed the IGC to enforce the law that humans are free citizens. What you’ve done is nothing to be ashamed of and I’m proud of you Lara.”

l.I’m struck by his words and finally his praise reaches my soul and I embrace it. I begin to cry a little. “I have to tell you something to get it off my chest. I don’t want you to wonder about it later.”

g.“There’snothingyou have to tell me,” I say. I know she wants to tell me about what she had to do at the palace. “What you had to do, it doesn’t matter to me. I love you. That’s what’s important to me. What did you say before you left? ‘What is sex but exchanging a little bit of body fluids and muscle contractions.’”

l.“That was before I knew what it’d be like with Imperial men, so physically close to humans. I want to let you know it was different… I was unprepared for how my body would react. HowIwould react emotionally…” Looking at him I don’t know if I have the strength to tell him, but I must. “I wasn’t raped,” I say and wait for his response. For years I’d been owned by jealous males so I expected Gael to be upset by this.

g.“Good.”

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