Married to the Alien Doctor: Renascence Alliance Series Book 2 Read online

  “Can I take these out ever?” she said motioning to her nipple piercings over her fleet uniform where they were still throbbing.

  “No, you are an Alliance woman now. Your future husband will buy you other jewelry for them. Men expect this. It’s part of the Contracts.”

  “What are the Contracts?” Dru was exasperated.

  “The Contracts are a long list of compromises between men and women to keep our society fair and equal. Many agreements have been added to it over the centuries, nipple piercings are one of them. Do you have any other questions?”

  “What if I don’t want to marry?”

  “Every Alliance woman must do her part now. If the Alliance falls, the galaxy will be in chaos and that includes Earth. Humans wouldn’t stand a chance without the Alliance. Do you really think that everyone else stayed away from you because you were so adorable? No, they did it because the Alliance always protected Earth and your small colonies. You are the Lost People. Now you have an obligation to marry and have children, to have daughters specifically, for the Alliance. This is your destiny now. It’s a blessing from the gods that you have been chosen. Don’t tempt fate by speaking such blasphemy about not wanting to marry. Go embrace your new life, your new home and be grateful. You don’t want the gods to take this gift away from you or punish you for your lack of gratitude.”

  Dru didn’t say anything more to the doctor as she had nothing left to say to such blatant racism. Concluding that her examination was over, as the doctor said no more, she put the disc in her pocket and walked over to join the rest of her crewmates.

  Jane took Dru’s arm and whispered, “You did well James. I’m sure that was the worst of it for today.”

  Dru nodded trying to stop the tears that were again running down her cheeks. She was so angry and humiliated, and ultimately, frustrated as she knew in this moment and for the foreseeable future there was nothing, she could do to change her situation. After a few minutes of self-pity, she tried to get her emotions under control, looking around at her crewmates and berating herself, We are all in this together and you are the only one crying like a child.

  Her attention was drawn now to another group of Alliance women that stood before them. Dru tried to focus on what they were saying; her nipples were throbbing with pain every time she moved her bra would put more pressure on her nipples and it would hurt. She was wiping her tears away. She half listened to the older Alliance woman who began to address them. The woman had greying hair that she wore in one long braid down her back. She was wearing a traditional light blue Alliance dress on, with a lot of silver necklaces that denoted her rank. Dru reckoned she must be relatively important as she wore a lot of jewelry.

  “Welcome human women from the Dakota. We are so pleased that you have come to live among us on the Alliance Capital Planet. My name is Madame Bai and you can think of me as your Alliance cultural guide. My assistants,” she pointed to the five younger women behind her, dressed very similarly to herself but in different colors of black, blue and grey, “will also be helping you in this great transition. You’re no longer prisoners and therefore, you have no need to think about escape. Alliance citizenship is a gift that has been bestowed upon all of you. Now, if you will follow us, we will take you to your new home that has been especially prepared for you with warm clothes, warm beds and vegetarian food in the Capital City.”

  The human women obediently followed Madame Bai and her assistants to a transport that would take them down to the planet. No one was going to protest against a warm bed and food. They were all so cold and exhausted.

  Dru vacantly looked out of the transport window at the dark blue and black-green planet below as they quickly descended towards its atmosphere. The planet was slightly darker than Earth’s as the Alliance’s sun was not as bright or warm. She silently marveled at the size of the planet, it was at least six times the size of Earth, and she couldn’t help but remind herself, ironically, This was one of the planets I was so keen to visit when I first joined the fleet. The Alliance Capital Planet was legendary and its security tight. Off-worlders were only allowed to visit by invitation only. Dru had seen pictures, videos and of course heard a lot about it and its people, but there was such an abundance of information about them and their civilization it seemed it was a way for the Alliance to keep their secrets in plain sight.

  Soon they landed in the largest megapolis Dru had ever seen, one of the Alliance women said to them passively that over three billion people lived in the Capital City alone. The Alliance Capital City had an almost mythical status as one of the most technologically advanced cities in the galaxy. Dru had only met one person, an old professor at the fleet academy who had ever visited it. He had told the class that it was a technologically advanced city but at the same time, devoid of any sense of life. Dru looked out and thought it was fitting that people who looked like zombies lived in a city without anything worth living for. Humans both in and outside of the Exterior spent a lot of time cultivating art in one way or another and focusing on social interactions with each other. They saw it as the only purpose for living. Obviously, the Alliance had other ideas about their purpose for living.

  When they exited the transport, Madame Bai and her assistants led them towards a large yellow rectangular stone building. Two guards stood to attention outside at a little gate house at the end of a small stone drive. The guards greeted them and then momentarily released a transparent light blue forcefield to allow them entry. Dru thought to herself when she saw the large forcefield surrounding their ‘new home,’ Okay, not prisoners, then why the forcefield? For protection? She could not help but be reminded of her own escape from the Exterior and looked at the large Alliance guards as she passed them. The guards bowed and Dru wondered if she would ever have to seduce them to escape. Suddenly, images from her sexual encounter with the human guards flooded her thoughts and she almost vomited. She bent over and one of the guards seeing her distress came to ask if she needed assistance. Dru acted on instinct alone and just hit the guard square in the face as he had put his face at her level.

  The guard only smiled at her and said, “I see that you are fine, little fiery one.” And then went back to his position outside the guard house.

  Jane came to Dru’s side, “James, are you okay?”

  Dru had regained her composure, “I’m fine. It’s just the pain from the piercings,” she lied and rubbed her knuckles. It was all the emotional distress of being brought there as a prisoner, humiliated and momentarily reliving one of the worst hours of her life all in one day. And a day that was still not over.

  “Not much longer now,” Jane said reassuringly, and they walked into the large building. Madame Bai was waiting for them by the door with a look of sympathy.

  Dru looked up as they walked through the entryway and thought this was the tallest building she had ever been inside. There were no windows on the bottom floor except one line of windows that extended all the way up to the roof and then curved around the top of the building. Once inside, Dru realized that the line of windows going up to the higher floors was the glass elevator they took to the living quarters. Dru could not help but admire the sprawling metropolis around them as the elevator quickly climbed up the side of the building. The city was buzzing with countless transports flying between the tall skyscrapers that ended somewhere in the clouds. The scene seemed so alien but at the same time familiar, How many times have I seen this in pictures or videos about the Alliance? Dru asked herself as she found the two iconic nearby Alliance planets in the sky making the scene complete. It was midday and the sun had reached its highest point but only managed to be as bright as it would be on an Earth evening. Dru couldn’t help but think, And this is your new alien home, forever. But she had to reflect that it didn’t look devoid of life as her professor had said. It did have a certain charm as all the buildings, for being so modern were built out of what looked like natural stone. And even though most of them were only various sizes of rectangles, the windo
ws on every building had their own unique patterns, not unlike some of the patterns she had seen on the women’s jewelry. A lot of geometrical shapes all falling together, and she thought it was almost pleasing to look at, but she couldn’t admit to it being nice, not yet. She was still shaken from all that had brought her there, the abduction, the holding cells and finally the invasive medical exam.

  Their new home was the most modern building Dru had ever been in. The floors and walls were a combination of black and yellow stone punctuated by small computer panels and floor to ceiling windows, showcasing the city and the tops of the numerous buildings disappearing into the clouds. The lights were low and Dru remembered, Alliance people have excellent night vision comparable to the big cats on Earth, she wondered if that now also translated into poorer vision in bright light. She smiled suddenly thinking about having a husband and being able to hide from him by just turning a lot of lights on.

  The women were led into a room filled with tables and chairs arranged as if it were some kind of circular conference room. Once they were all in the room, Madame Bai addressed them. “Welcome to your new home,” she spoke excitedly and almost warmly even though her audience was reluctant to show any kind of emotion except exhaustion and despair. “As I said before we left the space port, we will be teaching you all you will need to know for your new life in the Alliance. Today, we will just introduce you to the building’s basic technology, allow you to clean yourselves and get dressed in some fresh clothing. Tomorrow, we will begin formal classes which will all take place in this room which we will call the ‘classroom’. It’s our hope, the Alliance Empire’s hope, that in time you will find peace and comfort here. Now let me give you a quick tour. We will begin with the dining room and kitchen,” Madame Bai began walking out of the classroom and everyone followed as her assistants brought up the rear.

  They walked through the expansive dining room that was all black stone with two long black wooden tables that would easily sit 100 people at each. Large and unintelligible Alliance banners in different shades of blue were hung on the walls. Madame Bai pointed to the banners, “These say ‘Human’ on them. Typically, Alliance dining rooms have their House banners hung but since you have none, we created these for you. You all belong to House Human, which I will explain in detail later.” Madame Bai was proud of all the work she had done for these women in their new home and she hoped that they might try to appreciate some of it, but she kept telling herself, Don’t expect much at first. They are ignorant barbarians and they are scared. After she had shown them the dining room, she led them through to a silver modern kitchen where three Alliance women were cleaning and talking, all dressed in green. They stopped talking when Madame Bai began speaking and eyed their new human guests suspiciously. “These,” Madam Bai said, “Are your slaves, they will do most of the cooking and cleaning for you. They aren’t to be consulted on any other matters and you’ll be grateful for whatever food they serve you. I understand that you are all vegetarian, but it’s possible for you to eat meat according to our doctors. I would encourage you to begin to try to eat meat, your future husbands and their families will expect it and frankly, it’s healthier. Mealtimes in the Alliance are strictly regulated by the sacred times of the day. We eat three times a day, never more. The times are as follows: 7:00, 13:00, and 19:00. If you miss a meal, you must wait for the next one. We have cameras and trackers throughout this building, and you’ll be punished if you go against the gods and eat outside of mealtime. If you can all adhere to these rules, at the end of the month you’ll be rewarded with human food as there is a human who owns a shop here in the Capital City. When we go out on one of our city tours, I’ll make a point to go to his shop. It’s not in the best area, but as you are human you probably won’t mind. Now let me show you the gymnasium.”

  Madame Bai led them down the hall to a small gymnasium. Inside there were only swords hanging on the walls and more House banners. This room was different though, as there were no windows in it. The room was lit only by artificial candlelight and it had dark yellow lines painted across the rough stone floor. All the women came into the room and Madame Bai began explaining, “In the Alliance we all practice with swords. This is to both maintain good health as well as to protect ourselves,” when she looked around at the amused faces, she clarified her point sharply, “We don’t have a justice system like many other civilizations do. Our judges and juries do not settle personal disputes. Our personal disputes are resolved through duels to the death. You must all be prepared. As humans you will be exempt from being challenged only for the first 100 days. I implore you all to learn how to use your swords and practice every day. An instructor will begin training you all tomorrow.”

  “I haven’t seen any women carrying swords,” Jane commented. She couldn’t help but notice that every man she saw had been carrying one. It reminded her of some movies she had seen about medieval times on Earth.

  “And you won’t. Women aren’t as headstrong as men. We plan our duels and they always have a seven-day waiting period. Men may challenge each other in the moment as long as there are sufficient witnesses. I know you must be shocked by this, but men refuse to give up their right for an instant duel. It is in the Contracts.” When Madame Bai was content there were no more questions about the gymnasium, she led them across the hall and explained, “Your shrine is here.” The women peeked in through the entryway, the room was half the size of the dining room, with no windows and the walls were lined with different black statues of the deities, mostly women with shoulder length hair. The room smelled heavily of incense and there were some burning white candles in front of one of the statues. “I have taken the liberty of already thanking the goddess of home that you have arrived safely. Tomorrow, when we begin classes and you begin to learn about our religion, your religion now, we will spend some time there. Now let’s move on to your bedrooms.”

  The women were then shown one room as an example upstairs, as all the rooms were identical. The room itself was large with more yellow stone walls and a wooden black floor. Dru was beginning to realize that these dull colors were the favored colors in the Alliance. Each room had a very large bed with a mustard colored fur of some kind of animal on it, Dru was used to the use of animal furs from her upbringing but the rest of her crewmates were disgusted by this. As humans valued their animals almost equal to their own right to life, so to use an animal’s fur was almost like using human skin.

  The rest of the bedroom had no other furniture except for a black wooden wardrobe and a yellow desk with a computer panel. All the bedrooms had floor to ceiling windows on one complete wall that overlooked the metropolis that would now be their home.

  “From this panel here next to your bed,” Madame Bai brought up the unintelligible Alliance hieroglyphic menu, “You can access the shades, the room temperature, entertainment, and internal communication. The temperature can be turned up to as high as 23C however all of the communal areas will continue to be kept at 19C as you become accustomed to our normal room temperature.”

  “Why 19C? Onboard the Refa it was only 15 degrees.”

  Madame Bai looked at Drusilla and wondered if humans were even more backward than what the research showed. “Men and women operate best at different temperatures. Men prefer cooler temperatures and science has shown 15C to be the optimal temperature for men so everywhere in the Alliance Empire that is for men only, starships, barracks, Alliance headquarters, etc. the temperature is set at 15 degrees. However, everywhere else in the Empire, the standard temperature is 19 degrees. Women’s optimal temperature for work and comfort is 19C. However, as you are human that is still too cold for you all so we have added these features to your private rooms and no doubt when you marry, you can ask for the same in your homes.”

  “And our husbands?” Jane asked.

  Madame Bai smiled, “Well, they won’t be home to wear too much clothing, will they?” She thought she was making a joke, but none of the human women smiled so she cleared her v
oice and then went on with the tour. “You will all be given Alliance translators tomorrow, so that you can read Alliance.” Madame Bai began showing them the bathroom next. It was a beautiful large room made of black and silver stone, lit as if natural light was coming in. “The toilets will adjust to each one of you after you press this button,” she pointed to a small blue button on top of the sleek black toilet, “after you use it for the first time it’ll remember you and adjust to your individual comforts. Your health will be tracked by local doctors through your waste and appearance in the mirror to make sure you are healthy. As for the showers, they have been set to go to higher temperatures as well so that you do not have to suffer through cold showers. We want you to feel at home here. The shower will provide shampoo, soap and moisturizer appropriate for your individual skin and hair. These shower treatments also provide a lasting and pleasing scent to blend with your own natural scents throughout the day.”

  “What is ‘a lasting and pleasing scent’?” Rebecca asked. Humans bathed regularly but did nothing to mask their natural scents.

  Madame Bai looked at the humans and didn’t want to insult them, but it had to be said, “In the Alliance we combine our natural scents with more pleasing scents. As we all live so closely together it makes everyone more comfortable.”

  “What’s wrong with the way people naturally smell?” Rebecca didn’t want any Alliance scent mixed with her own. “I’m not opposed to soap, but we all smell the way we are supposed to. If you want us to marry someone isn’t it better that they really smell us to know if they like us? Don’t you know about pheromones?”