Married to the Alien with No House: Renascence Alliance Series Book 3 Page 7

  The truth was Commander Daz didn’t know what to do, and he knew that the incidents of indiscretion would only increase if he didn’t change tactics. He had tried to bring up his issues with some of the other commanders and those responsible for the human women on the other ships in their fleet, but apparently, he was the only one who was having problems with his human wards. Daz suspected the other captains of either drugging their wards or lying. He found these human women to be difficult to control. He had even contacted his wife for advice. And it had been his clever wife who had suggested the Assembly, ‘Maybe if you take away some of the mystery, they won’t be so interested in one another.’ However, he was unsure, from the moment he announced the Assembly he felt the frenzy of excitement from both sides. This was further confirmed by Doctor Hou, who commented to Daz, “I’ve not felt such a strong primal desire in people since I visited Sigma Four to observe their annual mating ritual.”

  Daz put his face in his hands then and replied, “You’ve no idea how difficult this is.” He began then telling the doctor about the women, “And their smell is just as pleasant as they look. They have so many colors and look so adorable, but in a way that you just want to take off all of their clothing and make love to them. And their clothing. It accentuates their curves. It’s as if they are all dressed like somewhere between my wife and a slave artist. It’s unnerving. And I thought myself beyond this. I’m a middle-aged man. I don’t chase after young women, but I find this almost too much, even for me. It’s not a shock then that our young officers are almost wild for the colorful nymphs.”

  Doctor Hou smiled at his friend and said, “Only fourteen more days.”

  “It’s an eternity. I only hope my wife is right about holding the Assembly, and it doesn’t make the situation any worse.”

  Hou laughed, “It can’t get any worse, can it?”

  Daz looked at him without smiling and said, “You should have not taken them off birth control. I think part of this is that their wild human hormones are soaring. Drawing men in.”

  “Oh no, don’t blame this on me. I was just following orders. And these women are no different than our own women except they have been raised in a different culture and have different hues to their appearances. I think it’s just that we’ve never had so many women onboard before, and it’s this new dynamic that has all these young people excited.”

  “Too excited.”

  “The other ships must have the same issues. What are they doing about it?”

  Daz grumped, “Apparently, I’m the only one having these problems. The others have their wards perfectly under control, and they even have double or triple the amount that I have.”

  Hou thought about this for a minute, “I think they are drugging the other women.”

  “No, that’s against the rules.”

  “Daz, seriously?” Hou asked.

  “I’m not drugging them. You don’t think any of the human women can become pregnant on this short voyage, do you?”

  “Of course, it’s always a possibility but unlikely. Half of the young men are still on birth control themselves. Just get through the next days, and you’ll see, it’ll be fine.”

  Babette was excited by the thought of actually talking to the men she frequently passed in the corridors but never made eye contact with. After being onboard for these two weeks and interacting with Commander Daz and Squire Ter, she had become more accustomed to their grey skin and strict manners. She was even beginning to find some Alliance men more attractive than others. Babette was surprised though that Jade had not been more interested in attending the Assembly after it had been announced. “It’ll be fun, and it’s on the observation deck where we will have a terrific view of the nebula. It’s supposed to be beautiful and romantic.”

  “I’m sure it will be,” Jade said unenthusiastically. “I’m just not feeling well.” This was no lie. Jade suddenly felt overwhelmed with her promise to the Empire. She had made an exclusive deal with them. A secret deal and she suddenly felt the weight of it. She was overwhelmed with Alliance culture, and all that she still didn’t know, and wouldn’t be able to learn from Commander Daz. It had become evident to Jade that he had given up teaching them more than the bare minimum, and this made her feel ill-equipped to hit the ground running when they arrived. And the last thing she felt like doing right now was going to a party of sorts. She didn’t want to meet any men. She wanted to get to the Capital City and jump right in with her business before she lost all of her momentum.

  Babette looked at her friend lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, “Aren’t you even going to change your clothes for it?” Jade was wearing a plain pair of black trousers and a white shirt, and Babette knew she had some more festive clothing.

  Jade didn’t even look at Babette, “Nope.”

  Babette shrugged, “Suit yourself. I’m excited to meet some of these men. I thought you would be too.”

  “Not today.”

  “What’s wrong with today? Have you got your period or something?” One of the most annoying parts about signing up with the Alliance was that they all had to come off of birth control, and suddenly they were all having periods, something that most of them had only experienced once in their lives before.

  “No, I just don’t feel like it,” she would let Babette in a little. “I’m anxious to get started on my restaurant. I wish I could start here. Talking to some of the chefs onboard.” Commander Daz had forbidden her many times from entering the kitchen.

  “We will be on the Capital Planet in two weeks. You make it until then. Just try and enjoy this time to rest before you start working,” Babette said reassuringly but looked at her friend and wondered if it was the hormones that were bothering her. This was another aspect of their bodies that coming off birth control had brought back, and none of them were used to dealing with the range of hormones some of them had. Even Charlene had told Commander Daz straight out, she didn’t know what had come over her, she just wanted to do things, and no amount of logic seemed to matter. Her body was in complete control. Babette felt lucky that all of her symptoms had been rather mild, but she didn’t congratulate herself too much yet as she hadn’t gotten her period yet and decided she didn’t really know how she would be until that happened.

  The Fira’s Chief Medical Officer had explained to them all that once they reached the Capital Planet, they would not have to suffer anymore as the women doctors would take over and that they would be offered Alliance alternatives. Babette was shocked that he was quite apologetic about it, and it was the first time she really wondered what living in a matriarchy would really mean.

  Babette straightened her dark red skirt that flared out a little and looked at her reflection in the 3D mirror, “Well, I’m sorry you are worried about your restaurant. I’m sure it will be a success. Come on, chin up, I’m looking forward to this and you should too. We’ve learned so much, and this will be like a warm-up for the real thing in the Capital City.”

  “Always worried about not fitting in, Country Mouse?” Jade said with some humor. She didn’t understand why Babette was so concerned with perfection in some areas of her life. It made Jade wonder about Babette’s childhood. It was no secret that she came from humble beginnings, but Jade wondered how humble to have such little confidence in social settings. She wished she could say something to her friend to assure her that this race was done, and she had won, but her compliments before fell on deaf ears, so now she was trying a different tactic.

  “Don’t call me that,” Babette reprimanded her. “And it’s more than about just fitting in,” she said, explaining. “I want to be good at this.” And that was the truth. Babette wanted to succeed in her new life. She saw this as an opportunity to escape what she had been born into. No one knew her mother in the Alliance, nor did they care where or what Natchez, Mississippi was. All they knew was that she was human, just like all the other women, and she was going to use that to her advantage.

  “Babbs,” Jade said, sitting
up. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean, be yourself. You’re witty and sweet.”

  Babette didn’t look at Jade. She looked at her reflection, pretending to fix her hair that didn’t need any more styling, “Thanks,” she said. “I’m not going to lose myself. I just don’t want to mess up this opportunity to start over. Trust me, these kinds of opportunities only come around once, if you are lucky.”

  “You won’t mess this up,” Jade promised. “And don’t worry, you’re human, that’s all these Alliance people see. Just be you. No one will listen or care if Charlene or Mira says this or that about you, especially not Alliance people. We are all poor and below them in their eyes.”

  Babette looked over at her friend and gave her a small smile. She was grateful to have met Jade. She felt as if they had always been friends even though they had only known each other for a couple of weeks. They had a shared future and had already non-verbally decided that they were in this for the long haul together. And why not, there were 1,027 human women in the Alliance Empire, that wasn’t many, and everyone needed a friend or confidant. “Should we go then?” Babette asked. “I’ll try to relax if you try to be a bit more enthusiastic about this. What do you say?”

  Jade got off the bed, “Yes, I’ll try. There was man who I did find especially handsome the other day,” Jade began as they walked out into the corridor.

  After a 15-minute walk, due to some wrong turns as Jade insisted that they try not using the internal map system, they finally found the observation deck. It was already busy with human women and Alliance men drinking zota and talking with the nebula as the backdrop. It was breathtaking, and Babette couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh my word, how beautiful this is!”

  Some of the other women who heard Babette’s comment looked over their shoulders and gave her disapproving glances. Most of these women who had honestly volunteered to go to the Alliance came from some of the best families on Earth. They were going, like Jade, to start businesses or make business connections. The Alliance Empire was not only powerful but wealthy, and until now, had been inaccessible to humans. As a result, most of these women looked down on Babette. They thought they had earned their right to be chosen for the Alliance because of who they were, but Babette was a reminder to them that possibly they weren’t selected for any other reasons except they wanted to go, and that didn’t make them feel special at all. Every time she had an outburst that revealed her class, they all looked down at her. And none of them understood why Jade spent so much time with her. They, of course, had all tried to befriend Jade. She had the inside track to the Alliance Empire through her aunt and uncle, and it was rumored she had an especially good deal with the Alliance, better than any of theirs.

  Commander Daz greeted Babette and Jade, “Madams, let us give thanks to the gods for this gathering. Welcome. Now, remember, keep to the Contracts. No touching, kissing, or arrangements to meet privately on the ship. This is just for conversation.”

  “Yes, Commander,” they replied in unison and then swept past him to some Alliance men with welcoming faces.

  Babette and Jade smiled as they were welcomed by two young Alliance men.

  “Hello, Madame Babette and Madame Jade,” one of them said. There was no need to introduce themselves, all Alliance citizens wore their names on their jewelry, “How do you like the nebula?”

  Jade looked over at the pink hues surrounded by a blue tinge, “It’s pretty. I guess.”

  Babette interrupted her, “It’s breathtaking. Have you been here before? I mean to the nebula, not the observation deck.”

  Jade looked at her friend and thought, Calm down, Little Mouse.

  Babette didn’t make eye contact with Jade but could feel her looking at her. She knew she was babbling. She couldn’t help it though; she was just so excited.

  “Once,” replied the same officer who had spoken to them to start with, “But it looks much better now with better company.”

  Jade touched Babette’s arm and moved away, and the other man disappeared as well, leaving Babette and this officer alone.

  “Are you from the Capital Planet?” Babette asked, not knowing what else to say and feeling a bit nervous now that Jade had abandoned her. She was looking up into this man’s handsome grey face, and large grey eyes. She wondered if he saw her the same way humans saw her or if she looked somehow different to Alliance eyes.

  “No, I’m from the Second Alliance Planet,” he pointed to a small line of purple on his uniform.

  “I wondered what those colors meant, I thought they were for military rank.”

  “It’s a type of ranking, purple for the Second Planet, red for the Third, and aqua for the Fourth,” explained the officer. He knew that the human women were uncomfortable with the idea of never leaving the Capital Planet once they arrive, so he didn’t want to talk too much about the different planets, but he was struggling what to talk about. He had actually never spoken to a woman before who wasn’t his mother.

  “And is there anything else different about being from the Second Planet?” Babette asked, trying to make conversation with this handsome man.

  “Not much, just minor cultural differences. I doubt enough for you to recognize they are so slight. I heard that Commander Daz is teaching you about Alliance culture. How do you find it so far?”

  “Strict,” Babette said automatically and then tried to backtrack as she realized that sounded terrible, “I mean, it’s not like human culture at all. I’m sure it doesn’t feel that rigid when you know the rules.”

  “To live without rules is to live like a wild animal. To reach the gods, we must have a ladder.”

  “Have you ever eaten outside of mealtimes or done anything unplanned?” she asked the handsome grey-eyed grey-skinned officer.

  He thought about it only for a couple seconds, “No.”

  What Babette didn’t realize was that he would never admit to having done anything on instinct as this was a very unattractive trait for a potential Alliance mate and what the officer didn’t realize was that saying you never did anything by instinct was just as unappealing to a human mate. Both were immediately turned off by one another’s answers.

  “I don’t like surprises myself, but sometimes I do like things that are unplanned,” Babette said quietly.

  “You’ll see that having everything planned in life makes it easier. You will learn to appreciate the order in the Alliance.”

  Babette just smiled and then moved to go find another man to talk to. She knew she was supposed to formally dismiss him, but she felt so awkward doing that, so she just said, “Okay, thank you for the chat, bye,” as she walked away.

  Babette and Jade must have talked to a dozen men each, and when they found each other again, they were both disappointed for different reasons.

  “I talked to so many men, and they knew nothing about restaurants in the Capital City, and most of them said they would never eat alien food,” Jade complained.

  “I talked to so many men who said that I should find comfort in the rigid rules and order in the Alliance. No flirting or anything. I’ve never met so many men that were so boring. What if I find all the men on the Capital Planet this boring?”

  “What if no one wants to eat my food?”

  Babette looked at Jade and said, “Well, at least there will be 1,027 of us who will dine at your restaurant.”

  They both laughed then.

  “I just don’t know who I’m going to marry if everyone is so boring.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find someone,” Jade assured her and was happy that Babette didn’t ask her why she wasn’t worried about marrying. “These are just a few men, and these are not normal circumstances for them. Don’t forget, Alliance people are very uncomfortable with new situations, and this is a very new situation. And don’t discount how alien we are to them as well. Once we begin to understand and act in a way that makes more sense to them, they will react in kind. I’m sure of it.”

  Babette looked at the other wome
n who seemed to be succeeding where she failed and asked quietly, “If that’s true, then why is it so easy for them?”

  Jade looked on at the crowd of human women and replied, “Babbs, you know they are pretending, right? Those women have been trained to pretend their entire lives; they probably don’t even know they are doing it. It’s sad, really, but that is a conversation for another day. I think we should have some zota. And I want to ask Commander Daz about the kitchens again.”

  Daz was pleased to see that at least his wife’s plan had visibly worked on some of the women. He watched as Babette and Jade came over to him. He already could see from Jade’s face expression that she was going to ask him again about joining the kitchen staff, and he sighed.

  “No, Madam Jade. Don’t even ask it.”

  Babette couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Commander Daz,” Jade began undeterred. “Do you have a puzzle jug?”

  Daz was surprised one of his human wards would know about the custom, “Yes, of course, I do.”

  “I’d like to challenge you then to a puzzle jug competition,” Jade said.