Abalim

Chapter One

Outside Galaxy’s Pub at dusk

Abalim glanced at his handheld to make sure he was in the right place. Yep, Galaxy’s Pub in the village of Kijiji on the planetoid Hiigar. He looked up and down the deserted, dusty street, hoping to see someone, anyone, that could verify if this was the right place. He chuckled. Yeah, like anyone on this goddess-forsaken planetoid would know where he was supposed to be.

He eyed the disreputable building next to the two-story structure that was as run-down looking as this one. The only encouraging sign was the symbol of “AoA” prominently displayed in red and yellow across the archway.

“JR15, are you sure this is the place someone claimed they saw one of the missing human women?”

He glanced at the small droid resembling an Earth spider resting on his shoulder. That is, if the spider had a green-and-silver metallic body and four legs instead of eight. The little bot quivered as if afraid to voice an opinion.

“JR15?” Abalim gentled his voice as he addressed the fledging robot. He was careful not to startle the little guy since it’d only started operating a month ago. “It’s okay. Just access the programming your father installed within you before we left.”

It amazed him how two other bots created his companion. JR10 and his “mate,” JR11, made a small batch of these machines to help Abalim and his brothers as they scoured the galaxy to search for the missing women kidnapped from the Zerin spaceship, StarChance.

JR10 insisted these little bots call him “Father” and JR11 “Mother”.

How strange the universe had gotten when droids wanted to be parents.

Another shocking thing he discovered was that Earth was now “recognized” by the Federation Consortium, the ruling body of the galaxy.

While the planet was still in a protected status, the government admitted they’d offered human women in secret to hundreds of species in the galaxy that faced a severe shortage of females.

Why women were in such short supply was something Abalim wasn’t privy to, but then he doubted anyone else had any idea why that happened, either. His sister-in-law—Inanna, the Queen of Akurn, a brilliant geneticist and a biologist in her own right—offered to look into the problem facing so many humanoid species.

She and her consort, Abalim’s brother Adapa, agreed to become part of the groundbreaking research team with the galactic body, but before they did, they insisted the human women missing from the Exchange had to be found first. Only then would the queen put her considerable talents into finding out what caused the dwindling female problem.

To help her work on it with a clear conscience, Abalim and his brothers volunteered to search the known galaxy for the missing women.

It’s not like he had anything better to do. Having time traveled over seven thousand years left him and his three other brothers at loose ends. Since Akurn and Earth had become allies, the threat of a battle between them, and of destroying Earth, was long gone. Which left the siblings with nothing to do.

The four of them were new to the modern world and totally useless for the worldwide cleanup efforts after the close brush with an alien invasion. With their newfound freedom, they needed a goal to help focus on who they were deep inside. And the best way to do that was to give them a purpose. Something they’d never experienced before.

It was strange to have control over his own future. Even so, Abalim was more than happy they’d agreed to split up to look for those missing women. He might love his brothers, but they’d grown up together, never alone except at night since they were small children. The freedom to choose his next step without having to consult their small group would be liberating. He’d finally discover who he truly was without worrying about being judged and teased if anything he did was considered lacking. Not that he didn’t retaliate. Usually when they least expected it.

“Yes, Mister Abalim, sir. The last known whereabouts of the human known as Althea MacGregor was here at the Galaxy’s Pub.”

Abalim tilted his head, straining to hear what the bot said in his soft tones. Damn, he wished for the umpteenth time he could psychically read the bot. But JR15 wasn’t organic, so he couldn’t. Skipping the whole talking process would make working together easier.

He grunted and didn’t correct the bot when he called him “mister”. No matter how many times he encouraged the robot to call him by his given name, the little guy just shuddered, agreed, and then reverted to formal address in the next sentence.

“Thank you, JR15. Appreciate it.” Abalim put his handheld computer tablet into his jacket pocket. “Why don’t you hide before I go in?”

JR15 squeaked and scrambled to his favorite place under Abalim’s dreadlocks at the nape of his neck. It was a perfect place for the droid to settle so no one could see him.

His pointy little legs were light enough when he moved, it was like a whisper across Abalim’s skin.

Abalim passed through the entrance”s light force field, and he was greeted by a humongous humanoid male with wide flat feet that tapered up to thick thighs. His gaze traveled up the giant’s body that thinned at the shoulders and held a head with a triangle shape.

A single large yellow eye surrounded by downy feathers for lashes dominated the being’s features. A row of bright canary-yellow feathers formed a mohawk down his skull.

“Are you Flygir?” Goddess, he hoped so. Princess Aimee of Zerin was quite insistent he ask this giant for help once he reached Hiigar.

“Who’s yous?”

“My name is Abalim. Princess Aimee said you’d be able to help me.”

“Pretty! Is where my Pretty?”

This high-pitched squeal came from one of the strangest looking females Abalim’d ever seen. At first glance, he’d swear the petite little female was barely out of pubescence.

She wore a simple loose black tie and a white blouse tucked haphazardly into a short pleated skirt. On her feet were small-heeled black shoes paired with white thigh-high stockings. Her light-pink skin matched her neon-bright-pink-and-black hair that floated around her as if it had a mind of its own.

The sight of her two sets of arms took him aback. But it was her wide-set pink eyes with shimmering highlights in their black pupils that gave him pause.

Since landing on Hiigar, he’d kept his psychic abilities under a tight leash. But standing in front of these two, he opened his senses a crack to get a feel for who he dealt with. The male was a creature called an Orisha, while the female was a Merkaba. Waves of intelligence and a personality of iron from them both told him all he needed to know. These were the people he was supposed to find.

With a hand over his heart, he gave a slight bow and pretended he didn’t know who they were. “I am Abalim from planet Earth here to see Flygir or Hayami. Are they here?”

“Why’s yous want’s ‘em?” The large Orisha male crossed his arms over his thin, wide chest.

“JR15, please come out and display the video for our hosts.”

The bot’s tiny pointed feet scuttled from behind his head and rested on his shoulder, shivering all the way.

Abalim wished he could send the small thing a psychic sense of calm. All he could do was encourage the small droid. “It’s alright. Go ahead.”

“Okay, Mister Abalim, sir. If you say so.”

The bot folded his legs under him and opened his top eye until it glowed and transmitted a holographic, full-length, 3-D image of Princess Aimee.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the female might have once been a human. But looking at her now, you wouldn’t know it.

From her sleek brown hair with the wide white stripe on one side, now tucked into a loose braid behind her, to her tanned skin that had a slight iridescent sheen to it. Like a human, she had single-colored eyes, but instead of one solid color, hers had an unusual combination of vibrant green with hints of golden-brown flecks. Nestled at her left temple was an intricate tattoo with a clear crystal in the middle. And she had four fingers instead of the three that a normal Zerin had.

“Hi Hayami and Flygir! I hope you guys are doing okay. I sure miss you.” The image clapped. “Baby Ryox is doing fine and demands to see Auntie Hayami all the time.” She clasped her hands together as a serious look came over her face. “Listen, there were more human women kidnapped from the Exchange than we knew. This is Abalim, and we’ve sent him to find one of them, a woman by the name of Althea MacGregor. We’d gotten a thin lead that she ended up at the Galaxy’s Pub like I did. Huh, who’d have thunk that’d happen? Anyway, please help him as much as you can, so he can find her. Thanks, and let me know when you can visit again. Love you both to the universe and back!” The image of the Princess gave a cheery wave before it dissolved.

“Miss happy is she Pretty!” The girlish Merkaba clasped her upper hands together while her lower ones wrapped around her slim waist.

It took a moment before Abalim realized Hayami had called Princess Aimee Pretty instead of using her name.

“All’s right. You’s can come in.” Flygir gestured with his beefy hand for Abalim to enter the smoky pub. “Sit’s there.” He pointed to a small vacant table by the stage. “Hayami bring’s you’s somethin’ to drink.” Flygir’s head whipped around when a loud squeal caught his attention. “You’s!” He wagged a thick finger at an escalating argument between two small aliens on the other side of the room. He lumbered off in their direction.

“Yes!” Hayami clapped both sets of hands. “There sit you. Bring I drink like humans do.” She skipped away, but whirled around and looked at the stage behind him. “Oh! Sweets, here human you see!” She gave a negligent wave to the female on the stage who’d been drumming on a six-stringed musical instrument.

Abalim glanced at the female, who looked like a typical Zerin.

Iridescent light skin, and a purple tattoo on her left temple with a clear crystal in the middle. Her rich sable-brown hair rested over her shoulders in a sleek cascade of curls.

He sat back on the comfortable chair and watched the woman put her instrument down. It wasn’t until she tucked some hair behind it that he realized her ear didn’t swoop up to a point. Nor did she have just three fingers. She had four.

Her sable eyebrows rose. “Oh?” She looked at him.

He was so close to the stage it wasn’t hard to hear her.

“You’re here to see me?” She pointed to herself.

Abalim scratched the side of his scruffy jaw. “Well, I’m looking for a human woman by the name of Althea MacGregor. You wouldn’t know where she is, do you?”

Her joyful laugh made him smile.

She stood and looked at someone behind him. “This guy is looking for a human woman named Althea.” Her mouth lifted into a wide smirk. “Know where she is?” She walked off the stage, holding out her hands.

Abalim watched as a tall Zerin male walked past him and took the woman’s hands.

His long, midnight-black hair, pulled into a braid to his ankles, exposed his pointed ears. No question he was a true Zerin. Each hand boasted three fingers of equal length instead of the four humans had.

The male bent and kissed the female’s knuckles with a low chuckle before turning to face Abalim. “Hello, stranger. My name is Lok. May I ask who you are?”

Abalim stood and clasped his hands in front of him. Taking a chance, he opened his psychic senses just enough to get a feel for the couple in front of him. With a small bow of his head, he introduced himself. “I am Abalim from the planet Earth. And this is my AI companion, JR15.” He gestured to the bot sitting on his shoulder. “The current chancellor and Earth’s government have asked us to help search for women taken from the Exchange. From what I understand, this illegal trafficking only became known after they removed the old chancellor from office.”

As Abalim spoke, he reached out with his mind and tried to connect with theirs. How interesting. It was harder to do than usual. They both had very distinct personalities, making it difficult to get a good read on their minds. But with gentle probing, he uncovered she was the woman he looked for.

At the mention of the disgraced chancellor, a mental image flickered in the mind of the Zerin male of lighting the burial pyre of the dead leader. Hmm, this guy had to be the twin brother of that man. When Abalim reported back to Earth, he’d reassure the new chancellor that the old one was dead and gone.

“I know I don’t look like I used to—” She looped her arm through the male’s. “—but I’m Althea MacGregor.”

“You are TrueBonds?” That would explain the change in her appearance. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks! I couldn’t be happier.” She hugged her man and gave him a look of unconditional love.

Which made the male’s stern expression soften when he did the same back to her.

“I take it you don’t want to go back to Earth?” He didn’t have to be a psychic to know the answer to that, but still, best to ask. He had to take proof back to his brother, so he’d instructed JR15 to record everything that happened the minute he stepped foot into the Galaxy’s Pub.

“Oh, hell no!” Althea caressed Lok’s jaw, still gazing into his eyes. “I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

Abalim cleared his throat. He hated to break the spell between the couple, but there were other things he had to ask. “You wouldn’t happen to know where any of the other women are, would you?”

“Why don’t you sit with this male and see if you can help him? It’ll give me a chance to get ready for that surprise I promised you.” Lok gave Althea a quick kiss. The nervous excitement rolling off him was easy to sense.

She beamed. “You won’t be gone long, will you?” She was like a child excited for the Christmas holiday, something a lot of people on Earth celebrated at the end of the year.

“No, my bateia, my everlasting love.” The male’s voice lowered. “I will never be far from your side.”

Oh, by the God An.The last thing he wanted to see was this overt display of new love. It was bad enough he had to endure it whenever he was around his brother Adapa and Queen Inanna. Not to mention how all five of their sons were in the same situation. It was enough to make him want to tear his eyes out.

Abalim was about to close his psychic senses when an unusual probe tried to worm its way into him. He blocked it, but the impression made his skin crawl. He glanced around the room, but couldn’t sense where it came from.

“Oh good, Hayami has brought us some drinks.”

Althea’s voice jerked him out of his concentration.

“Well, I’ll tell you as much as I can about the women who were in the same slaver cell with me on FiPan.”

Abalim barely heard what the woman said next. She and Hayami gushed about something, but the only thing he focused on was a sudden thin thread of a disturbing malevolence hidden from sight. There, hovering behind Althea. In the dim light, a fractured glow tapered in and out of sight. Like tiny mirrors catching whatever light it could to claim its reality. But it was the blazing intensity of foul purpose coming off it in waves that gave him pause.

Abalim sent a quick glance in JR15’s direction to ensure the little bot recorded the dialogue between him and Althea. Satisfied the droid had everything under control, he allowed his primary consciousness to float free, but left a small part of himself behind to answer when necessary. He focused on the obscure shape and cast a psychic web around it.

Show yourself. Abalim demanded. The creature”s intelligence was easy to read. No doubt the damn thing heard him.

You are an interesting creature. A definitely male voice answered.

Abalim frowned. He got the impression the alien wasn’t talking about him.

The thing wisped around Althea and ignored everything else. I wonder if there are more like you. Yes, yes, there must be.

Get away from her. Abalim made sure he growled the words.

Look how you were once a different species. The strange being continued to ignore Abalim. And now you’ve taken on the traits of your mate. Ah, mate. Is that how you turned from one species into another?

When Abalim felt the alien seeping into Althea’s consciousness, he blasted a psychic wave and shoved the creature away. No! I said stay away from her!

Now he had the asshole’s attention. You dare to interfere with me? The surprise in the male’s voice was easy to hear. How odd.

What? You’re not smart enough to recognize a threat when it hits you? A wave of blinding, arrogant anger saturated Abalim psychically. The only way to avoid being sucked into a whirling abyss around the creature was to dig deep inside and stop it from affecting him. He struggled to focus and maintain an open line of communication.

If you are as you say—the mental voice became sharper with each word—you will tell me where I can get more of these creatures. These… humans.

Abalim sensed when Althea once again became the alien’s focus.

Finally,a solution toa problem that has eluded me for far too long.

Abalim trained his psychic consciousness on a higher plane to confront the disgusting animal. I won’t allow you to get near her or any other human.

A hard grasp around his physical throat stopped Abalim from advancing toward the threat. He jerked to get away, but couldn’t pry the invisible fingers off.

Listen to me, you sanctimonious insect. For I will allow you this one chance to convince me you are the intelligent, sentient “threat” you claim to be.

The entity slammed Abalim back into his physical body, and the choke hold released as everyone in the room froze in place. Disoriented, he rubbed his eyes before focusing on the strange creature gliding around Althea. At first, it was hard to understand what he looked at, but soon the alien solidified. The strange being appeared humanoid with two arms and legs, but that was where the similarities to an organic creature ended. This one had a strange amalgamation of crystals, or glass, or mirrors, in various shades of blue. His surface had smooth flat panels, but also sharp crystal protrusions in various lengths jutting out from his body in all directions.

When the creature stopped beside Abalim, he became bombarded with images that sped through his mind at a blinding speed. He shut his eyes, putting the heel of his palms over his lids as if that would help control what was happening to him. Just as abruptly as the images came, they stopped. He lowered his hands and blinked his eyes open. The eerie silence in the room was dense. The only sound was his heavy breathing.

He was sure the demonstration lasted only seconds, but the information left behind was clear as hell.

This alien came through a black wormhole from a different dimension where he and his kind, called the Krystalii, had eliminated all other sentient life and built an undefeated empire. Their goal was to spread their kind in every universe to “purify” them. This creature was here to determine if this galaxy had the necessary materials to transform the planets into the atoms and molecules needed to start the nucleation process to make more of their kind.

“You may address me as Lord Baelon.”

The alien moved close, and his warmth took Abalim by surprise, but he clenched his hands to stop from showing any reaction. He slammed a psychic shield around his mind to keep the damn thing out. He’d do everything in his power to stop the asshole from getting into his mind again.

“Listen to me carefully, you soiled maggot.” The nasty sneer on Lord Baelon’s face had to match Abalim’s. “I am the beginning and the end of all there is. Follow me, and I will save you from all you fear.” His hypnotizing voice was a mélange of cries from a thousand voices. “I will lead you to a place where death and sorrow can never find you.” The creature leaned in and whispered, as if sharing a secret. “If you follow me, I’ll introduce you to a realm where your feeblest fantasies pale in comparison to the dark wonders there waiting for you.”

Abalim jerked his head away. “Yeah, sure. I’ve heard that type of bullshit from assholes like you before, you fruking bastard.”

The alien straightened. The sneer on his thin lips morphed into a cruel, wide smile.

Abalim’s stomach dropped.

“Just as I surmised. No intelligent life here.” The crystal creature took a step back. “However, you have shown me a clear path to something I must accomplish first. I will have my people find those human women you’re looking for.” He glared menacingly at Althea with his icy-blue eyes, radiating an aura of wrath. “This one is a lost cause, since she has already gone through a transformation. What I need is a fresh supply of human females to bring Krystaii glory to a whole different level. Once I have them, I shall transform this puny dimension into something of beauty and power. This will be the highest fulfillment of my destiny.”

Abalim became Lord Baelon’s sole focus.

“And I shall relish the pain everyone in this galaxy will endure as I accomplish this.”

He vanished. The last word stretched and echoed in his wake.

Everyone in the room moved, like someone had clicked the pause button to resume.

Abalim searched with his psychic senses to see if anyone else experienced what happened between him and the crystal threat. No, all was calm. “JR15, were you able to keep recording what happened between me and that alien while everyone else was frozen?” He spoke in a low voice to the small green-and-silver droid resting on his shoulder.

“Yes, Mister Abalim, sir.” The little bot shivered. “I’m afraid I did.”

“Oh, look!” Althea’s excited voice caught his attention. “Lok’s on stage. Oh my God, he’s going to sing.” Her hands gripped together so hard her knuckles turned white. “You don’t have to do this.” The last was said in a quivering whisper.

It was hard for Abalim to follow the dynamics as to why the Zerin being on the stage affected her so deeply. Especially after what he’d just experienced with the looming threat from the Krystalii.

He sent a gentle probe to Althea and discovered the Zerin had been held captive in isolation for over fifty years. For the male to allow himself to be the center of attention was a huge step for him to make. Abalim admired how the determined Zerin confronted his worse fears to show his TrueBond their love was more important than any phobia holding him back.

Perched on the edge of a backless stool, Lok’s fingers moved gracefully over the strings of his seven-chord instrument, producing an emotional melody. The bittersweet lyrics floated through the room with an aching, smoky edge. There on the small stage, his heartrending words filled the air as he sang of forever, of longing to be with the one he loved with a fervent passion.

Abalim sat in awe, entranced by the sound of another man pouring his soul out for his woman. The music washed over him like a tempestuous wave, bringing with it an understanding for the first time in his life of how true love was a relentless and unstoppable force. One that could never be defeated. It had a solid strength that couldn’t be broken, no matter how powerful the enemies’ psychic armaments were.

Peaceful determination washed over Abalim. Armed with a new sense of courage and conviction, he knew without a doubt the crystal alien’s threats didn’t stand a chance. The mind-hold the alien shared fortunately ended up on a two-way street. He discovered the aliens weren’t ready to come through the wormhole en masse just yet. They were in the process of sending out scout ships first. Their directive was to search for the missing human women Abalim and his brothers had been sent to find.

Lord “Freak-Show” Baelon somehow planned to use human women to propagate their species in a new, time-saving way. Which didn’t make sense. How could humans and the crystal alien possibly be genetically compatible? That’d be something he’d have to talk about with his sister-in-law, Queen Inanna, the brilliant scientist.

But the main thing he was sure of was they had a small window of opportunity to come up with a way to stop the Krystalii from expanding their access to this dimension with more than just scout ships.

For now, the main thing to do was to prevent those assholes from locating those isolated missing women. He had to do everything in his power to keep them from becoming the extensive experiments the Krystalii planned on making them.

Especially before their Krystalii leader discovered a whole planet of them.

Lisa Ivy was no dummy. She knew darned good and well the alien in front of her was full of shit.

Aja, the alien liaison for the human women on the StarChance heading to an alien exchange program, shouldn’t be here at her quarters this early.

Especially dressed like some kind of freak show at a steampunk convention.

Lisa swallowed a nervous sigh. She should know, since she’d done some serious research into the steampunk-romance genre when she’d contemplated creating a new series. As a successful science-fiction-romance author, she totally got off on researching various tropes of paranormal romance and would’ve killed to come up with the outfit Aja currently wore. Instead of her normal uniform of a one-piece, cream-colored suit, the liaison had on a bizarre outfit that would be right at home in any comic-book movie. The best part was the formfitting costume shimmered whenever she moved. Over her chest was a silver plate decorated with swirls that matched those on her wristbands.

On her feet were a pair of black leather boots that reached over her knees. The steel over the toes bore the same pattern as her chest plate. A shimmering cape flowed dramatically behind her to the top of her butt. Its slight silver sheen brought out the glittering colors of her suit and accessories. The strangest thing she had on was something that looked like the tip of a spear poking up between her shoulder blades. What in the hell was she going to do with that? In all the training about the Exchange over the last thirty days, Aja never hinted it might be dangerous.

But it was the sinister leer (damn, seeing the actual expression in person was sure different from what her imagination came up with when she wrote a scene with the creepy villain) that crossed the beautiful alien’s face. Lisa took a step back.

Aja’s dual-colored eyes with their light shade of clear green around the iris with an outer dark shade of yellow carried the unmistakable marks of a life steeped in self-righteous corruption. The colors had a sickly khaki hue, as if reflecting the sulfurous depths of hell itself. They were cold, devoid of empathy or compassion.

Aja’s full lips curled as if permanently pulled upward.

The sight had the haunting power of nightmares. Lisa frowned. No doubt the woman was there for nefarious purposes (heh, nefarious. Another word she’d never dreamed of using in real life). And talk about an Oscar-worthy performance. Who’d have guessed Aja was anything but the helpful hostess she portrayed this past month to Lisa and the other women under her care?

“Aja?” Lisa crossed her arms. “I didn’t know you personally were going to take me to the Exchange.” She glanced behind the woman. Not that she expected any of her fellow “classmates” to be with her. Her brows furrowed. So what was really going on? Obviously nothing good. “Wow, what an honor.” When in doubt, sarcasm to the rescue.

Aja’s eyes narrowed. The leer deepened, creating deep brackets at the side of her mouth. “Oh, I’m personally going to escort you, all right.”

Quicker than Lisa could react, the Zerin female jumped in front of her and squeezed something sharp into her neck.

“Owe, you beeeccch…” Lisa’s words slurred as she tried to slap her neck. No such luck. Then something hard and cold clicked around her neck. Every motor skill her body possessed packed its bags and left town. Any second now, she’d turn into a puddle of floppy, useless, noodle-like nothingness, as if her inner heroine hung up her battle gear for a career in blobbery.

“Follow me, you stupid human.” Aja turned and strolled down the empty corridor.

Yep, no arguing her stupid status. Only a stupid human would get caught like this. To pile on the stupidity, she’d made sure no one on Earth would miss her. She let the Zerins erase everything about her, like she never existed. Which was easy enough, since she had no family or close friends back on Earth. And being a self-employed author who released all of her books under various pen names, it was easy for the aliens to make her disappear.

Lisa’s traitorous feet followed the alien without missing a step in the eerily silent hallway. Well, at least she had some decent clothes on. She’d gotten up way earlier than she needed to, beyond excited to meet over a hundred hunky alien men in order to find her one true love. She’d barely slept, her mind and body racing throughout the night. When she finally gave up trying to sleep, she ran into the refresher unit and got ready for the exciting event in record time.

At least she wasn’t getting kidnapped by aliens half-naked, like she’d made some of her fictional heroines endure. Hah! Take that, fate.

Too bad it wasn’t a gorgeous, muscular man, er, male taking her away. Anything but this snarky bitch leading her to who knows where. She meekly followed Aja down the corridor, which was empty. Great, no one was around to witness anything.

Aja hurried to a dim part of the ship that didn’t look like it’d been used in years.

The Zerin opened the airlock and pushed her inside, and a gust of stale air rushed out, making Lisa’s throat burn. Once Aja closed the portal behind them, the creepy silence was heavy.

Dust particles danced in the low, flickering light, showcasing the walls that once must’ve gleamed with a futuristic sheen but lost their luster long ago. The empty room was some kind of cargo bay, the massive emptiness broken only by one thing—a small one-man spacecraft with an honest-to-God alien typically called a “Gray” standing next to it.

Chilling little shit was around three feet tall with an oversized head in comparison to its body. Its gray skin didn’t boast anything remarkable for its skinny, non-clothed form. Long arms with spindly fingers and elongated almond-shaped eyes with a black background and tiny white dots where their pupils might be. A couple of horizontal slits for a nose and a minuscule slit underneath that had to be its mouth.

All in all, a disgusting creature who smelled like burned fish.

“Hurry up, take this one.” Aja shoved Lisa at the diminutive creature. “I’ve got to get the rest.”

Without a word, the thing grabbed her arm and wrapped its long, reed-thin fingers around her upper arm.

Lisa shuddered at the feel of its slimy, cool flesh. Still unable to move voluntarily or speak, much less protest, she let it pull her to the small craft. The sound of Aja’s fading footsteps hardly registered when the only thing to see was where the creature forced her to go—a one-seater ship that looked like a Lockheed F-104 without wings.

On the side, a small coffin-shaped pod slid out without a sound. She didn’t need her writing chops to recognize it as some kind of stasis pod.

She tried to pull away. To scream. To run. To do anything but let the smarmy little bastard shove her into the scary blackness. She swore the damn place shrank the minute her back hit the inside of the hard surface. A bubbling, thick gel started at her feet and wiggled its way up as the lid to the steel coffin closed with a silent seal.

As the cold liquid covered her mouth and nose, she squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she was back in her comfy home office, plotting her next SciFi romance and dreaming she was writing about her own studly alien mate.

Well… soaring space dung.

Lisa’s eyes fluttered open, her senses jolted into sharp awareness. She tried to put an arm up to block the blinding, harsh, sterile light. Instead, she found herself lying on a hard table, tightly bound and unable to move. Panic surged. She had no idea where she was. Her heart pounded, muffling all sounds.

The room was alien, both in its physicality and its atmosphere. Cold metal surfaces surrounded her, adorned with unfathomable machinery, emitting eerie, pulsating hums. The air tasted metallic and clinical, suffused with a moist chill that sent shivers racing along her spine.

As she struggled against her restraints, she only thought of escaping. What happened? Why was she…

Oh shit. That’s right. That bitch Aja gave her to one of those disgusting Gray aliens. Who knew the creepy beings were real? Dread coiled in her stomach, tightening with each passing second.

One of them came into her line of vision. She couldn’t tell it was the same one from the StarChance or a different one.

Out of the slit of its thin mouth came a warbling, birdlike sound.

And not the cute kind either. Its freaking whistling noise made her skin crawl. And why in the world didn’t her universal translator work? The Zerins who ran the alien exchange program promised once they installed it, she’d be able to understand thousands of languages spoken in the galaxy.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another Gray approaching at her other side.

This one twittered back to the other as if they were arguing. Their large black eyes widened as their spindly fingers flapped in the air over her bound chest.

But the thing that caught her attention was the thin, needle-like doohickey aimed at her exposed left breast. The weight of vulnerability settled over her like a suffocating blanket. Sheer helplessness made her mouth dry. Her imagination scrambled at the scenarios of what these extraterrestrial asshats were going to do to her. Every ounce of her screamed to flee. But the more she struggled, the more futile her attempts became, which, of course, compounded her terror. She was at their mercy, a pawn in some unfathomable game. Drawing in a shaky breath, she hyperventilated.

Before the needle touched her skin, a sound like a balloon popping made her jerk.

The slimy alien who stood next to her disintegrated in a flaky cloud of ash.

With a high-pitched, bloodcurdling squeal, the asshat with the needle threw it at something through the cloud.

It was hard to see what it was aiming at, but it gave a metallic ping as it hit the side of the steel wall before tumbling to the ground.

Another suffocating pop, and the other gray creature exploded in a poof of ash as well.

Lisa’s heart thudded against her ribs as a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She tried to see what made those maniacs disappear, but the straps holding her down wouldn’t budge. Eyes wide, she strained to find out what was going on.

What came into view ramped up the whole surreal experience to a new level.

Standing next to her table was a bald, robotic, gorgeous Barbie doll on steroids. A bright-green sex toy that had to give any man a massive-boner. With a waist so tiny it was a wonder it held up those three humongous boobs with their deep-red areolae. Like a neon-bright doll in Christmas colors. Rounded hips tapered down to shapely legs that didn’t quit. Dainty feet were strapped into a serious pair of “fuck-me” stilettos, high enough to give any normal human a nosebleed. The only clothing it wore was a diaphanous wraparound skirt that left little to the imagination. It exposed a human-like vagina complete with plump lips that surrounded the tip of a hot-red clitoris peeking out between the folds of shiny emerald.

The metallic eyes of the robot were lifeless and void of any emotion. Their silver irises lit up and scanned Lisa from head to toe. When the light blinked off, the straps holding her down disappeared.

“You will follow me.” The robot’s mechanized tone had a slight, sexy lisp. It flicked one of its wrists in her direction and the collar around her neck warmed. “If you do not, you will endure the nutesh snare’s capabilities.” The droid turned to leave the room as if it didn’t have any doubts Lisa would meekly follow.

The memory of the collar lifting her up in the air and putting her in that stasis pod left no doubt the stupid thing was powerful. No telling what else it could do. Whenever she wrote her heroines into a trap, she made sure the woman wasn’t stupid enough to rebel until she got enough information to figure out what was going on.

At least the creepy little Grays got what they deserved.

She slid off the table and crossed her arms over her naked chest. “I don’t suppose you have any clothes I can put on, do you?” Doubtful. The damn droid wasn’t wearing much of anything.

The neon-green robot woman turned its head to look at her. The silver eyes gave her a brief scan before tilting its head to the side. With a negligent wave of its digitized fingers, it indicated a pile of clothes laying on the floor next to the table.

“If that is what you are seeking, utilize it.” It turned and with a slight wiggle of its hips, the robot took short steps out of the open doorway. “Do be hasty. Any delay will not be tolerated.”

Lisa didn’t need to be told twice. In record time, she pulled on the clothes she’d worn when she thought she was going to meet the alien mate of her dreams. Thank God the clothes the Zerins gave her had built-in underwear and slip-on shoes that were easy to don, even at a run.

She may not like where she ended up, but any place was better than staying here. Going through an alien autopsy was never part of her bucket list.

Turned out the neon-green android Lisa dubbed as “Kermit” took her to a place as boring as hell. It was a single-room prison cell no bigger than her bedroom back home. Complete with three narrow cots along the side and a small bowl in the corner, that she could only guess was some kind of toilet.

And a shimmering force field over the wide front entrance.

“You enter here.” Kermit the droid said in her whispery tone. At a wave of her metallic hand, the sparkling shield disappeared.

Now it was easy to see four other women in the room. Human woman, as far as Lisa could tell. The one with long, curly brown hair looked vaguely familiar. She turned her back on the room and crossed her arms. She wasn’t going to move until she got some answers. “What’s going to happen to me now?”

The robot didn’t answer. It just flicked its wrist, and the collar around Lisa’s neck activated, making her back up a few short steps until she was fully in the cramped space. With a flick of its other wrist, the android made the glittering force field resume its position.

“Hey, Kermit!” Lisa stood as close as she dared to the heat coming off the shield. “I asked you a question!” With a huff, she put her fists on her hips.

The robot walked away but stopped. Instead of turning around, the bald head did a hundred-eighty-degree turn, so its face with the creepy, dead silver eyes gave her an unblinking, full-on stare. “That is up to the master. He will decide your fate, human.” With that unemotional response, the robot’s head swiveled to face front and walked away.

Its sharp heels clicked with each step until Lisa couldn’t hear it anymore.

“Lisa? That you?”

She jerked at the sound of her name and turned to face her fellow inmates.

The curly-haired one stepped close with her head tilted. Her brown eyes were wide.

Lisa studied the woman. Several years older than her own thirty-three, the other female was attractive, with high cheekbones and a smattering of freckles across her playful upturned celestial nose that added a hint of whimsy. Her bouncy, cascading hair in thick brunette curls reached past her shoulders.

“Althea?” Lisa gasped, grasping the woman’s forearms. This had been one of her classmates on the StarChance heading to the Exchange. “How did you end up here?”

Althea’s laugh lacked humor. “Probably the same way you did.” Her eyebrow rose. “Aja?”

“Skanky bitch.” One of the women behind Althea commented with a curt nod. She was an arresting blend of what had to be mixed heritage. Her warm skin tone was complemented by a crown of springy honey coils. Her arresting green eyes narrowed.

“Now, Morgan.” Another woman, an adorable Latina, admonished. “We don’t know the circumstances…”

“Honest to God, Izzy. You’d find something good to say about Hitler, wouldn’t you?” the last woman snapped.

She reminded Lisa of her cover-artist-turned-friend, June. It took forever for Lisa to get June to admit what her Korean birth name was. It wasn’t until just before Lisa left Earth that June admitted her birth name was Ha-Joon. She only confessed after threatening Lisa with severe bodily harm if she ever called her that.

“Toni, stop picking on Izzy.” Althea joined in the conversation.

Maybe Toni was a nickname for the pretty Korean-American woman like June was for her friend.

“I swear, she never says a mean thing about anyone.” Toni may have possessed a petite frame, but there was no mistaking the solid wall of steel in her stance. She waved her hand as if to demonstrate being held in captivity was supposed to give them the green light to get down and dirty. “You’d think being here, she’d at least cuss or something.”

“Hey, maybe she has religious reasons for not swearing.” Lisa grimaced. Here she went, opening her mouth before she had a better understanding of the group”s dynamics. For once, she should pay attention and figure things out before opening her big fat yap.

“Nah.” Morgan laughed, flipping her hands at Izzy. “She’s just so friggin’ nice she can’t help herself.”

Izzy’s light-bronze cheeks darkened, and she lowered her eyes with a soft smile.

Lisa expected her to say, “Ah, shucks” anytime.

“Any-hoo…” Althea cleared her throat and addressed Lisa. “How are you? You okay?” The concern in her dark eyes was clear as she checked over the newcomer. “You injured?”

Lisa gave her a brief hug before pulling back. “No, I’m okay.” She gave a sheepish smirk. “The only thing hurt was my pride.” She thumbed at the shiny force field. “Thank God Kermit got me before any damage was done.”

“Damage?” Izzy put a soft hand on her forearm.

Althea’s brows furrowed. “Kermit?”

Without warning, the horror of the last few hours caught up with Lisa. The image of being strapped to that cold, hard table made her stumble. Her brain and eyesight checked out. A black cloud took over, and she would’ve fallen if Izzy and Althea hadn’t grabbed her by the arms.

“Here!” Morgan shouted. “Put her here.”

Shivers ran rampant as Lisa’s vision blurred in and out. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she muttered as they helped her sit on something hard. Must be one of the cots against the wall.

“It’s okay.” Izzy’s soft voice pierced through the fog. “I’m sure you’ve been through a lot. Listen to my voice and let me guide you.” She used a soothing tone with nonsensical words that didn’t have to be understood for them to be effective.

Lisa swallowed with a dry throat. Her face heated. Well, wasn’t she the poster girl for a badass warrior woman? How embarrassing. Here she wrote about fearless women, and at the first hint of trouble she fell apart like a simpering sot from a Gothic novel.

“Here, drink this.” Toni held out a small, clear metal cup. “It’s just water.”

“Yeah, nothing fancy here at Chez de Slammer.” Morgan humphed. “Wait till you taste the cuisine. It’s to die for.”