She tried to sit up but the belt around her rib cage wouldn’t allow it. He touched something, and the bed beneath her began to move. Kelsey gasped at the motion, and once she was sitting upright, she realized she wasn’t on a mattress after all, but a padded chair that had been reclined. The chain and bracelet had been removed. She lifted her arms to see that her wrist and hands had been bandaged.
“You were hurt. I got the shock bracelet off but it had cut into your skin. So did the chain you were gripping to choke out the Cristo. He also scratched one of your legs with his claws. I was able to treat your injuries with the small med kit I had on me. Within an hour, you can remove the bandages once the abrasion cream has sealed your skin. The only thing I couldn’t heal were the bruises. When we reach my family’s ship, the medical android will take care of those. Please, tell me your name.”
She stared into his eyes, trying to make sense of all he’d just said. Thirst had her accepting the drink he still held out to her. It had a small tube attached to the top.
“Suck on it and squeeze a tiny bit. You don’t want to do it too hard or liquid will erupt out. Rations stocked on these small economy shuttles are the worst quality.”
She took a sip. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t taste like water. More like an herbal soup with an odd aftertaste. It helped appease her thirst, though, so she risked a bigger swallow.
“You are an amazing human.” He grinned again. “It was very brave of you to fight a Cristo.” His features sobered. “Please don’t attack me next. I’d never hurt you.”
“Who are you? What are you? How did you learn to speak such good English?”
He crouched next to her seat. “My name is Crath Vellar. My race is Tryleskian. We are extremely human friendly. My brother and his crew rescue humans and bring them onboard their ship. That’s why I’ve learned your language. You’re free. Do you remember me telling you that part? Did Earth sell you, too?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Bastards,” he hissed. “Nara is teaching me Earth cuss words. She’s also a human. Was that an appropriate one?”
She nodded again, staring at him while trying to figure out if she could trust him or not.
“Can you please tell me your name?”
“Kelsey Bowen.” She studied his eyes. They were beautiful. “Are you a friend?”
“Oh, beautiful Kelsey…I’d like to be so much more.”
Her mouth fell open in surprise but she closed it fast.
He grinned. “Two of my brothers and our cousin are all married to humans. You’ll be meeting them as soon as we reach the ship. Raff, my cousin, knows by now that I couldn’t make it back to our shuttle. As I said, he’s the one who bid on you. Once they figure out that we weren’t caught but stole a shuttle, they’ll remain in hiding, waiting for us to join them. They won’t abandon us in this sector of space.”
“And you said the people on your ship make a habit of saving humans?”
“You’ll be our sixth.”
That surprised her. “Why do that?”
“Humans need help. You’re defenseless.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You did see that I took down that reptile guy, right? Did that seem defenseless to you?”
His mouth curved down a little. “You have some fighting skills, but your size and strength aren’t enough to win against most aliens you’ll encounter in space.”
That wasn’t something that Kelsey could deny. Otherwise, she’d have escaped long before reaching that auction.
He studied her face carefully. “How did you learn to fight?”
“I was a police officer on Earth.”
“What is that?”
“Law enforcement.”
He gaped at her. “Then why did Earth sell you? We got the impression they only do so to females without jobs and families now.”
“I arrested an important man. That pissed off the people in charge.” She still felt a lot of anger over that. “The guy had a history of abuse. My supervisors told us to just give him another warning if we had to go to his home again. I arrived to find him actively beating his latest girlfriend. No way was I going to just letting him off with a warning, like other officers had in the past. I hauled his ass to jail.”
“He should have been locked away if he hurts females.”
“Exactly. But my supervisors didn’t agree. Instead, I was the one arrested and taken to a military holding facility, where they told me and about twenty other women that we’d become alien brides. They even gave us some spiel about how we were doing all of humanity a huge favor, since the aliens were giving them lifesaving technology.”
“Spiel? I don’t know that word.”
“A total bullshit story to excuse why they were selling us to aliens.”
“I didn’t see any other humans at the auction.”
“These fish-looking aliens flew us off Earth in one ship, then transferred us to others. I got separated from the rest of the group. No other human women were shipped with me. I have no idea where they are now.”
He nodded.
She glanced around the room, understanding now that it was a small bedroom. “This is like a private shuttle, huh? It’s bigger than I imagined one would be, if it has a bedroom, but I’ve only seen them in movies and on television shows. Those were just an open space with chairs and a small piloting station. The ship that took me from Earth was also nothing like this. It was huge, like a cargo ship? We were kept in small cages in what looked like an industrial container. There were certainly no reclining chairs.”
“This is a privately owned travel shuttle, and it has another bedroom. I would have put you in a real bed inside the owner’s cabin, but it is in bad shape. A Nupa clearly lived in that one. This room is a sleeping space for a hired pilot. I don’t think it was ever used.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Thanks?”
“You’re welcome. We’ll be docking as soon as I make certain I was able to disengage the tracking system. The last thing we need is to lead station security forces or the Cristos straight to The Vorge.”
“The Vorge?”
“My family’s ship.”
She nodded. “What will happen to me then?”
“You’ll be free.” His expression sobered. “However, you can’t return to Earth. They might kill or resell you.”
That was something Kelsey had already determined on her own. The news outlets hadn’t said a word about women being forcibly taken from Earth to be sold to aliens. The media had to know the truth but were undoubtedly helping to cover it up. As an officer, she’d noticed the increase in missing persons reports. The news outlets would have too. The fact that none were reported screamed government conspiracy to her.
Kelsey had seen several similarities in the missing persons files she’d read. All the women were between the ages of eighteen to thirty. None of them had family. They’d also been fired from their jobs, or had quit prior to friends going to police stations to file reports.
She’d pointed out her suspicions to a superior that someone might be targeting the women, based on those similarities. Kelsey had worried they might have a serial killer on the loose. One smart enough to dispose of bodies extremely well, since none of the missing women had been found. That theory had only earned Kelsey a stern lecture about paranoia and how all the women more likely just moved to other cities.