“Is that so funny?” she asks.
I eye Vraik and lean my head against the door. “Forgive him,” I say. “It’s just that women are a rare commodity to us,” I say.
“Excuse me?”
“Most planets can only claim a certain number of individuals. But, as you may or may have heard, the Ubaran Empire uses other galaxies for extraction of precious elements and minerals. Nothing more, nothing less,” I add.
“Get on with it. You’re making my head spin,” she says.
Lök takes over. “Birthing has been regulated,” he says. “Women have been sent to government facilities.”
“Bottom line is you will not fair well on our planet,” I say.
It’s the honest truth. We need to keep her here until she is bred.
Her voice quivers. “Then we will have to find another planet.”
“The others are now being mined. Of course, there are cluster civilizations, but they are primitive and under strict law not to be touched,” I say.
Lök speaks. “Even if you found a planet that is habitable, you are a human, still young in the grand timeline of the universe. You do not understand the complexities of the other races. They will kill you.”
She is lucky we don’t kill her after this stunt she pulled.
I hear her fall to the floor, weeping.
I am brutal. We all are. But the sound hurt my ears. I feel sad for the female.
“Why did you do this to us? What did Earth ever do to you?” she cries.
I am honest. “We saw an opportunity and took it,” I say.
We’re from the mines. Does she really think we had a life of privilege? If she wants a way out of her old life, this is her best fucking bet.
“So what happens to me next? More torture? More abuse?” she asks.
“No,” I say, voice gentle. “What happens next is entirely up to you.”
Vraik interjects. “We could bring you to our home planet.”
I hear her catch her breath. “I thought you said I couldn’t travel there.”
I glance at Vraik and nudge him away. I wasn’t going to shed light on the totality of our plans, but now that she’s aware, there’s no going back.
“The Empire will accept you if you are pregnant with our child,” I say.
She gasps. “What?”
“It’s the only way,” I tell her.
“I despise your kind,” she growls.
She isn’t listening. “Do you think we are the writers of intergalactic law?” I ask.
“Everyone has a choice,” she says. “You comply with your fucked up, twisted laws. You’re just as bad as Emperor Slain.”
I step away from the door. We grew up harder than she’ll ever know. Most of our parents were slaughtered during the various uprisings. Vraik’s family was sent to the mines, never to be seen again.
We didn’t have a fucking choice. She doesn’t know a thing about our history. But I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.