Prologue: Emma
When warlord aliens invade Earth, I watch as my world crumbles.
Their mothership lowers above my head. A great beacon of light shines over the city.
They don’t want Earth. They want me…
Three brutal aliens force me to my knees. They accept no peace treaty.
They demand one thing: A bride.
That is final.
One
Lök
Location: Orak Mines, Planet Ferän
Planet Ferän is dead.
Ferän is a dry, deserted planet. It lost its habitable atmosphere a long time ago.
For us fucked up alien miners, it’s home.
Our job is to scour places like this. We search within the crevices of rogue planets for minuscule elements that could grant us ultimate freedom from a tyrannical and ever-expanding Ubaran Empire.
We go where the rich charlatans and police-force sentinels refuse to travel. In a sense, it allows us some mobility. We can travel from planet to planet, as long as we file the clearance documents necessary to leave.
In reality, we are still under Emperor Slain’s control, mining for something that most likely no longer exists.
He has used all of it. Resnyx. The element of all elements.
One pin prick can power an entire planet for many moons, and he has used every last drop of supply.
Now, Slain needs more, and we’re the ones who are going to get it.
So far, no luck.
No Resnyx. No females. Fucking nothing.
Everyone has mined the innermost quadrants of the galaxy. Every planet on the outside is like Ferän.
Dead and silently spinning. It’s eerie.
Like parasites, we dig through the planet’s core. If we find it, Slain will grant us clemency. We can quit and settle down.
Freedom.
Our machines have cracked away at the planet’s surface. We have drilled to the planet’s mantle, to the very point where most of the hidden element was said to reside.
But it can only survive in perfect conditions. If the heat touches it for too long, it won’t work. If it’s too cold, it won’t even form.
Finding nothing, we resort to digging with crude tools.
I wipe my forehead. Ferän’s double suns create brutal working conditions, but we push on.
Grimacing, I shout, “On your knees, cockroaches. I don’t want you to stop digging until I see that sparkle and shine.”
Shirtless alien workers from across the universe cut and hammer away at the glistening rocks.
Diamonds are one thing, but the cosmos is full of precious metals and minerals. Our group hasn’t found anything too remarkable, but the gold is slightly worth the effort.
The truth is I don’t give a flying fuck about Resnyx. I don’t care about Slain’s expansion into the cosmos. As far as I’m concerned, expansion isn’t worth the headache.
We had something good. Planet Ubara was peaceful. We celebrated fertility and strength.
The Resnyx ruined everything.
There is one thing that I truly miss. Women. Just like Resnyx, they are impossible to find.
In this region of the universe, pussy is a high commodity. Back home, it’s the same. Slain had them shipped out.
He controls us by depriving our needs.
I haven’t seen a woman in over twenty years. For some, that’s a lifetime.
I’ve tortured myself to find Resnyx when in reality, I need to find a mate.
Freedom doesn’t exist. There is only work and pleasure. Nothing in between.
I have urges. Biological desires. I need to fuck.
I’ll do anything.
Anything…
I crack my leather whip against a large boulder and shout, “We’re not stopping until sundown. Keep shoveling the shit, everyone.”
I feel the heavy weight of someone’s palm squeeze around my shoulder blade. Pivoting, I see my colleague, Vraik.
He salutes.
His eyes are sunken, like mini-caves, cheeks weathered from the sun. His youth has faded. So has mine. We’re all dying over this shit.
We have spent years searching for our ticket out of here. We have worked overtime for a tiresome wish.
I have a strange feeling he’s thinking what I’m thinking.
Vraik nods, frowning before calling out to the workers. “Pack it in. I’m calling it a day.”