She was unaware of what he was saying, but that didn’t matter. Even if she was deeply asleep, Dominax was certain that his intention would be made clear through the vibration of his words. Humans were sensitive that way. Actually, they were sensitive in almost every way. He would have to be very careful with this one.
Darma was technically right. He couldn’t just take a human. There were consequences for removing less advanced species from their planet. A human did not belong in the greater time stream. Dominax comforted his conscience by telling himself that King Archon had a human, and whatever King Archon had done, Dominax was not going to restrict himself from doing.
The truth, which he would never admit, was that he hadn’t actually planned to take anybody. He’d gone to Earth just to look, but the second he saw this one, he had known he had to have her. There had been something in her gaze which set her apart from the other humans. Most of them barely glanced at him, and those that did look, stared with barely veiled hostility. One of them had asked, rather aggressively, what Dominax thought he was looking at. None of them had endeared themselves to him. But this human. This Katie. She had stood out among thousands.
“Hnngghh…” She stirred and made a non-verbal sound.
“Shhh,” he soothed her. “We’re almost home.”
His words were true enough. They were only a matter of minutes from Homeworld, Dominax’s little corner of supreme control in the midst of a universe too strange to ever truly be ruled by anything sentient. Creation was a beautiful madness, and beings like Dominax were tasked with the responsibility of bringing enough order to small parts of it to allow intelligent creatures to live out a life which vaguely approximated something that made sense.
As they slipped into orbit, his new pet started to stir. The transport daze was wearing off, and soon she would be completely conscious and aware of what was happening to her. He expected her to panic, probably to emit those sharp, shrill sounds humans liked to make when they were surprised, excited, happy, or, well, as far as he could tell, pretty much any time they felt anything at all.
He liked watching her wake up, the fluttering of her pretty lashes revealing that brilliant blue. She had the most amazing eyes. They were very unlike his own which were just one thick slash of black. The human gaze showed so much more emotion.
She looked at him, and he saw her confusion. It was obvious she had no recollection of events leading up to their departure from Earth, at least, not immediately upon waking.
“Where am I? What happened? Why do you have wings? Why are you red? What’s happening?”
He didn’t bother to answer any of her questions directly.
“Hello, pet. I am Dominax. You are safe.”
He spoke gently and calmly so as not to panic her. It would not do to have his pet getting overly excited.
“Where am I?”
“You are in orbit around what will become your new home. In a few minutes, we will be descending, so we need to get you into a chair, strapped in securely. Atmospheric re-entry is still bumpy, even with our superior technology.”
“What the…”
She looked down, noticed she was naked, and proceeded to panic.
“Where the fuck are my clothes!?” She screamed the question at him like an accusation.
“All your clothing was dissolved in the transportation beam. Every bit of Earthly filth was removed from you.”
“Transportation beam?”
“I removed you from planet Earth while you were on your way to work. I believe it had something of a temporary amnesia effect on you. You agreed to it at the time, believe it or not.”
“I agreed to be stripped naked and wake up in some weirdo’s basement? What the fuck is up with your eyes? And your wings? And your…” In the course of flailing her hands about the place, she brought them close to her face, and then stopped, and sniffed.
“I think this is the first time in two years my fingers haven’t smelled like two servings of french fries.”
That seemed to please her, but her nudity did not. On the contrary, Dominax enjoyed her nakedness. He very much liked the way that her body was soft and curvy. For reasons best known to herself, she had chosen to adorn her body in several places with indelible ink. It was an unnecessary gilding of the human lily, for her flesh itself was art. She possessed an incredible beauty which evolution did not bother to bestow on every species. A lot of life was more or less ugly, especially life on planet Earth. He had seen some creature which was mostly legs, crawling around the place looking as if it owned it. There was nothing even remotely attractive about most life on the planet. But humanity, that was something entirely different.