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On the day some suspicious-looking aliens came claiming to be there to take me to the dorms, she shoved a leather traveler’s notebook in my hand—the same one that we used to communicate with.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “I will see you again after assignment.”

“Assignment?”

She wasn’t able to answer. The uniformed aliens took me away. To the dorms.

For five days I was made to room with the other women. We knew very little about what our fates would be. Some seemed to suggest that we were there to be used as no more than sex slaves. They were probably right.

I recalled the warrior saying that twenty human women were captured when we were being rounded up on Earth. But only twelve of us made it to the dorms, which made me curious about what happened to the rest. The woman with the letterman jacket was there. She used to be the most talkative of the bunch, but she didn’t say much. And Freya—she was there. She kept her head down, always. All the women knew that she was the daughter of one of the most hated men in the nation. Some of them despised her. If given the chance, I was sure some of them would kill her. Freya kept to herself. I took a chance and called to her once, but she looked at me like she didn’t even know me.

At the dorms, we were given a case of things and told to study them and learn how to use them. They looked very modern—just like the every day tools we used on Earth to groom ourselves with and cook and eat with. The only time we congregated was during instruction time and meal time. We slept in separate rooms, wore the same type of tunic every day, and had timed showers.

One of the instructors was human. Or half human. I couldn’t tell. He wore a cloak, but he spoke English well. From what I perceived to be from sun up to sun down, we were taught common letters and words. We were given raw foods and fresh game and taught how to prepare them into meals. We learned the names of many exotic berries and crops. Everything we learned was like getting a crash course on the ways of the Zunatorian, yet the burning questions that we really had for them remained unanswered.

I was no dummy. We were being groomed for something big.

We learned what that something was on the day of auction when a important looking figure came to tell us why we were abducted from Earth. Their women couldn’t have children and we were chosen to bare a warrior their offspring. If we did this for them, we would be honored by the King himself. However, the messenger made it clear that our ultimate fate resided with the warrior assigned to breed us.

“Who are you? Will you assign us?” a woman from the back asked.

“No. Not me. I am but an advisor, you see. I advise those who listen.”

One of the girls raised her hand and asked, “What if we wish to go back to Earth?”

To that, the messenger replied, “Why would you wish for such fate? Who do you think fired the shots that brought down your prison walls like a pile of dominos so that the rebels could swarm and take over your city? You are free from such devastation now. Except for a couple of you, you all were marked as common servicewomen to your nation. Maid servants. Street beggars. Rebels. Criminals. Whether the news I bear is bad or good depends on you, of course. And your warrior.”

“But we are only here to have babies for your warriors,” a woman from the back of the crowd concluded.

“And for citizens. We need more warriors, yes, but we need people above all else. They are the most important resource, you see.”

“So, are we property?” one girl demanded.

“Property? Let me explain. We are raiders. We are conquerers. We take. We return with what we acquire. What we acquire becomes our property. We make use of all property. Our resources on Zuna are well-cared for, unlike that of your Earth at the present time.” The magical golden glint in his eyes gave me the idea that he was more important that he was leading us to believe. “Nothing is by chance. All things are predestined. You will not be treated less-than here, but you must first learn your place. We all start from the bottom on Zunator. Your lesson will begin with your warrior.”

“But we all can’t rise to the top now, can we?” a blonde girl in the front asked and then fixed her gaze on Freya who was standing off to the side twiddling her thumbs quietly. She didn’t look up when the girl made her the subject of her example. The tables had been turned and she was no longer considered rich royalty. Somehow I felt sorry for her, yet, she still would not acknowledge that she ever knew me. Strange.

“Not all of us can handle the top now, can you?” he asked her. “If you see me in the market, don’t be shy. They call me Sok’ke Norgol. Anymore questions before you’re sent to auction?”

“Au-Auction?” one of the girls muttered.

To that, Sok’ke bowed out of the room and then in came the uniformed aliens to collect us.

Chapter Five

Aurora

“Make your case, Vaxar,” King Crencik demanded leaning forward slightly in his seat. “You have interrupted the auction to lay your claim to this human.”

The small meeting room that we were shoved into was small or maybe it just felt that way because of all the bodies crammed in the room. The aliens were big, standing shoulder to shoulder for the auction. The women were placed on a podium between the chair were the alien king sat and the crowd. We had learned enough from the half-human instructor to distinguish the warriors from the citizens. From my observation, the demographics were split. Half were warriors. Half were normal citizens.

The handsome warrior who claimed me back on Earth came forward, pushing his way through the crowd. I hadn’t seen him in over a week, yet I couldn’t forget his seductive deep set eyes or his body which appeared to be sculpted by the gods.

“The Earth female,” he stated. “They tell me her name is Aurora. I brought her here for me.”

My pulse quickened as images from that fateful day in the woods came back to me.

“Oh?” King Crencik settled back in his chair.