For the first time, I can tell my grip isn’t as tight as it should be. The makeshift pick I’m running through my curls slips from my fingers when it catches on another tight ringlet.
As I stare at the pick dangling in my hair, I laugh, shaking my long, blond ringlets.
Well … I’m glad my hair dried decently after my shower.
I’m thankful I was able to shower… by myself.
And I’m glad I’m not as sick as Shelly. She’s been hiding from everyone the struggles she’s having with her body.
My friends and I were abducted almost three weeks ago from Earth. I don’t remember a thing except we were at our study group Shelly had organized on campus at the college we attended when a bright light zoomed into the room.
And then lights out.
After that, I woke up here on the Discovery spacecraft, already sick with a debilitating disease. That’s what is causing the weakness along with the pins and needles sensation in my limbs.
Tirus X is an airborne disease I contracted when I first ended up on Dactyles, where our ship pretty much crashed. It’s what the prisoners there call planet Six Two Four, the Quasarian prison planet.
I’m glad that Susan, one of the other girls in my study group, had already mated to Matthias, the brother of the captain of the Discovery. Because of his freaky “mating pull”, he was right there and to save us all from being assaulted by the warden at the prison.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember any of it!
The really wonderful news is that once we’re mated, the nano technology the Quasars have integrated into their bodies will transfer to us and cure the disease. As far as they know, sex is the only way—not that I’m sad about that!
But the not so ideal news … my mate’s on Quasar.
After two weeks of travel, we’ve finally arrived!
Holding my hair up on top of my head, I turn around to look at the mating marks that developed on my back. They look exactly the same as they did when they were first discovered … no darker or lighter. The reddish hue of their wandering and looping lines is hard to see, but Shelly took a picture for me right after they were discovered.
I know exactly what they look like. I’ve been checking them more and more over the last couple days because I was sure they’d get darker the closer we get to the Quasar planet. After all, I’m getting closer to my mate.
So far, though, nothing. On my pale skin, they just appear as angry red lines or as if I fell asleep in some weird body suit!
Kind of disappointing. Susan and Hannah, the mated women on the Discovery spacecraft, have deep, vibrant colors spinning through theirs. Could there be something wrong with my mating?
Or could it be because Shelly and I are sick with Tirus X?
All the Quasar men on the Discovery are just as shocked as we are that human women are mating compatible with their race. When the Discovery's captain, Bren, hooked up with Hannah, an astronaut on the SkyLab orbiting Mars, they realized they had matching marks on their bodies.
Even then, no one was positive about how things would progress.
Turning back around, I debate what to do with my hair. It’s a bit of a rat’s nest.
Oh, who am I kidding? What can I do?
It’s gotten a little longer since they abducted us from our college, which seems like eons ago already. There were seven of us in the study group on campus at the time, but so far, it’s just been the four of us who were beamed out of the room and into the Quasar’s life.
Jenny and Rachel opted to stay on the planet Six Two Four, called Dactyles, by the Quasar men who are imprisoned there. But Shelly and I … unfortunately, we’ve contracted the disease called Tirus X, and it’s the reason we’re here at Quasar to get a vaccine.
The doctors on the Discovery immediately contacted the Quasar Council for the vaccine. All the prisoners on Dactyles had it before they were sent there. But their Council was just waiting for the opportunity to study a mated couple after Bren showed up there with Hannah.
Our dependency on them for the vaccine gave them exactly what they wanted.
Staring at my washed out features, I consider whether I look sick. Maybe? It’s hard to say since I’m already so pale.
Shelly’s the really sick one.
Yesterday, she could barely control her fingers to just shut down a simple program. She’s says the tingling has become so prevalent in her extremities, she’s losing feeling. Loss of sensitivity. And she’s so stubborn, she won’t even go to the Discovery doctors, Atticus or Brock.
Sure, she might be right. There might not be anything they can do. But it couldn’t hurt to ask.
We’ve got the same disease, but right after we were diagnosed and contacted the Quasar Council to discuss coming to the planet to get the vaccine, they’d located my mate. That’s the guy on their planet with matching mating marks… the funkiest thing about this whole situation. It’s also the reason why Jenny and Rachel could stay on the Dactyle prison planet where their mates are serving their sentences.
The Quasar’s have used nano technology to change their physiology and help them learn faster and better. When Rachel and Jenny had sex with their mates, the nanos—at least as far as Atticus and Brock have figured out—gave them the vaccine or immunity or whatever.
Until we contacted the Quasar Council, we weren’t even positive we had mates, and the safest course of action was for us to get the vaccine ASAP. But once we’d contacted them, my mate was located by the Councilors almost immediately. A man named Forohn Kana.
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I grimace, baring my teeth to study them. I think they’re the best feature on my face. Straight, even and super white. They’re one of the reasons I habitually put on a smiling face.
Not the only reason, of course. I’ve always been upbeat, something drilled into me by my mother.
I peer into my small handbag. It was recovered from the rooms we were all found naked in on Dactyles, and it’s the last remaining item I’ve got from Earth.
There’s not much.
This tiny crossbody bag was my constant companion. I gingerly take out the compact, opening it slowly and inhaling the familiar scent of Cover Girl.
Nice.
The clean noxzima scent throws me back to the past, where my mother’s face floats next to mine in the mirror. She showed me how to clean my face with the classic cleanser in my early teens when I broke out so badly.
Even now, the light powder does nothing to hide the scars. But it’s all I have.
Smoothing the applicator over my face, I’m thankful that it’ll take off the shine because I haven’t even left the room and I’m sweating like a pig.
Shelly thinks that the reason her Tirus-X is progressing so fast is because they found her mate later, but I have a different hypothesis. One I haven’t shared.
I think it’s because she’s so thin. Well … let’s be honest here. Mine’s progressing so slow because I’m so fat.
It’s hereditary. My mom’s a big woman too, but she’s always pointed out her weight never kept her from doing what she set her mind to. Despite her large size, she married, had me, and continued to work in a successful career as a nurse.
After my father died in a work accident when I was twelve, she had the option of retiring. But she continued to go into work for the night shift to this day. At least… I assume she still does.
Anyway, she’s the one that taught me you should always focus on the positive, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let her down now.
Pulling out the light pink lipstick, I place careful dots on my cheeks, rubbing it in to create some color before applying a thin coat to my lips. We’ll need to talk to Hannah about shopping on Quasar. There hasn’t been time for anything but learning about their technology and our rights.
Technically … we have no intention of staying on the planet, despite what we’ve agreed to.
When we originally asked for the vaccine, part of the negotiations—for our life, I might add—was to stay with our mates on Quasar in a program they’ve dubbed, “The Mating Re-Emergence Study.”
Ten years, though! That’s what they wanted. Ten years as guinea pigs while they poke, prod, and study us.
Thankfully, we negotiated for not only Susan and her mate Matthias to opt out, but to change the timeframe from ten years to five. All the men seem positive the Quasar women are going to violate the terms of our agreement, and we’ll be totally free to go.
I’m not so sure. Won’t it take time to catch them?
There’s a light rap on the door before it slides open in the next room, and I hear Shelly’s impatient voice calling out, “Are you set?”
Scrambling to close the skin tight jumpsuit, I activate the bathroom’s sliding door as I throw on the large men’s shirt, calling out, “Almost!”
Shelly stops at the doorway to the bathroom, holding open the self closer. “Why’re you wearing that shirt?”
Giving her a duh look, I smooth the fabric over the jumpsuit. “I think it looks like a maxi dress like this.”
Screwing up her lips, she groans out in a huff. “You don’t realize how much weight you’ve lost over the last month, do you?”
Looking down, I study my tits before cupping them. “Actually, I do know. These babies have shrunk. They’re always the first to go…”
Letting out an exaggerated sniff at their loss, I push past Shelly, walking over to the wall where a system of elaborate cubbies is built into the surface for storage.
I pull out the backpack that we’ve stocked with everything from clothing to technology. Placing the small purse inside, I thread one arm through the backpack and turn around. “How do I look?”
The question has me looking at Shelly carefully. She looks washed out with dark circles under her eyes. I hope she doesn’t ask me the same back because I’ll be lying for sure.
She’s beautiful, but she looks exhausted … and sick.
Instead of the sarcastic response I expect, she smiles sadly. “Beautiful.”
Scoffing at her, I turn to the door, knowing she placating me like I’m prepared to do for her.
As I go to pass her, she grabs my arm. It’s not her weak grip that stops me, it’s the serious look on her face as she calls my name. “Beth, wait.”
Shelly hesitates before continuing, her dark blue eyes serious. “No matter how this goes, I want you to know that I care about you.”
“No matter how this goes? What do you mean?”
“Do you really think that they’re going to just be okay with us leaving? That they’ll give us the vaccine and then, when we point out how they’ve violated our agreement, they’ll just… let us go?”
Goosebumps break out on my skin at her humorless, deadpan voice.
“That’s why we have Matthias as a backup, right?”
Susan’s mate, Matthias, will use his Quasar mate built-in homing device, as I call it, to come find us all on the planet. They’re so sure they won’t let us go that they’re planning on coming to get us out sooner rather than later.
Shelly blinks slowly, her lips lifting into a semblance of a smile. “I know. It’s just … just in case, you know?”
I do know.
Shelly doesn’t have my positive attitude—about anything. I’m pretty sure she’s convinced we’re going to die from something soon. Whether it’s the virus Tirus-X or the crazy Quasar Councilors, who knows?
Pulling her into my chest, I wrap my arms around her tightly. “You’re worrying too much.”
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve told her this over the last couple of weeks. It’s not surprising. Shelly was the study group leader at school. She’s super organized, but when things don’t go perfectly right, she starts to have a little breakdown.
Literally.
Instead of answering, Shelly sniffs, pulling away as she nods. Smiling, I know there isn’t anything else I can say to keep her from worrying. We just need to get this over with.
Waving my hand, I activate the door’s motion sensor and lead the way out, turning to the shuttle bay where we’re meeting Susan.
I’m not worried. If anything, I’m excited. Elated even.
A shot of pure adrenaline shoots through me as the excitement that this day has finally arrived takes over.
Sure, I have a hard time believing that this Quasar man with matching mating marks is going to want me—at least not forever. Because that’s what mating is, from what I understand.
Even if that’s the case, I’m sure he will be willing to have sex, right? And I can’t wait. I’ve been horny for weeks, daydreaming about this moment.
I’m not a virgin. There are men who’ve found me attractive enough to be with me, and I have a healthy outlook on sharing my body.
We’re going in a smaller spacecraft down to the surface of a new planet. That’s super exciting! I’m so glad I’m going to be awake for this trip.
Unwilling to let Shelly dampen my elation that grows as the shuttle comes into view, I wave at the others waiting for us. Awesome!
