Chapter 5
Harmonious Mates Agency
The Harmonious Mates Agency was disguised as an employment agency, specializing in service staff; cleaners, cooks, waiters, that sort of profile, so it wasn’t unusual for Aelanna and Kora to have dealings with them.
It said, Harmonious Employment Agency on the directory board in the entrance.
Sneaky but clever, Aelanna thought. Like the building, the block was down-market, as she was accustomed to in east New York. After all, it wasn’t Manhattan.
“How did you know this place even existed?” she asked Kora in an awed whisper as they entered a bright, immaculate reception through a scruffy outer door.
“Shh, I’ll tell you later,” Kora whispered back.
Nayli came in and stood with her two friends.
Kora overcame her surprise to mutter, “You too, huh?” Kora threw her arms round Nayli and Aelanna did the same.
But that’s all they had time for because the smart receptionist with perfect hair and makeup emerged from behind her counter and led them to a plush office.
The occupant, Crista Dapkey, wore her brown hair scraped back into a severe bun, and her brown eyes were sharp and intimidating through tortoiseshell-framed librarian glasses.
She had a classy wooden nameplate with her name in an elegant script and Manager after it on her desk.
She radiated, Don’t mess with me or you’ll regret it, if you live that long.
Aelanna and her friends had entered her territory.
Ms. Dapkey stood up from her ergonomic chair, giving the girls full view of her coral wool designer suit.
“Oh my, is that from Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue? My mother always goes there,” Nayli declared brightly.
Ms. Dapkey granted Nayli a side-eye that made Aelanna shudder.
Ms. Dapkey’s appearance was in keeping with the office, that is, smart, expensive and supremely tasteful.
Apart from the ultra-modern stylish office furniture, there was a plush crimson sofa, rich and dark, along one wall with a dark wood coffee table in front, a white orchid on it.
The carpet was a lighter shade of crimson, and expensive prints inspired by shots from the James Webb telescope in thin black frames lined the off-white walls in a tint that possibly added a string of zeroes to the interior designer’s bill.
“Aelanna Smith, Kora Kelly, Taylor Fairchild, what makes all three of you want to join the Harmonious Mates Agency and go off-planet? There’s no coming back to Earth once you’ve boarded.” She paused, dramatically, of course, for an ominous wrap. “No going back.”
She stepped out from behind her neat desk and strolled to the window, giving the girls sight of her perfectly matched coral designer heels. She folded her arms, turned from the window, and treated them all to the side-eye that Aelanna would remember as her signature look.
“Or did you think we could get you positions at one of the classier hotels?”
Aelanna and Kayli shook their heads.
“I’ve already signed, Miss Dapkey. I just brought two friends along,” said Kora.
Ms. Dapkey waved a hand, dismissing her. “Never mind, I’ll interview you individually to see if you’re suited to our program.”
She sat down at her desk again and took papers from a drawer and handed them to Aelanna and Kayli.
“Study these, but don’t fill anything in yet. I want to talk to both of you privately to make sure you know what you’re in for.”
Aelanna was up first; the other two waited in reception. She sat in the visitor’s chair. The manager studied her from across the desk, and Aelanna tried to steel herself against Ms. Dapkey’s intimidating glare, with partial success.
“Why do you want to find an alien husband?” Dapkey asked.
Because I’m reacting to being jilted. Over-reacting.
“There’s nothing for me here. Everything I try I come up against a dead end, and I haven’t met any men who think I’m good enough to marry.”
“It seems like a drastic step to go to a different galaxy. The journey is longer than you think and you can’t come back. The aliens will send a ship. Earth doesn’t have spaceships suitable for such a journey. Why not try a local dating agency or an app?”
There was silence while Aelanna thought about her reply.
She tried a different tack. “I can’t break free of dead-end jobs.
Life is so much harder these days. This planet is overpopulated — teeming with people.
There’s a lack of resources on a finite planet, and the rich buy everything and prices keep going up until they’re out of reach.
There’s nothing left for us ordinary folk. ”
“Sounds to me like you should get married. On Earth.” Dapkey met Aelanna’s eye. “However, it’s true that aliens have asked us to supply them human women. They don’t take us for granted.”
Aelanna stared off. She was sick of dating, of having her hopes raised and dashed, time and time again. The Brad episode had caused her to cross a line. If aliens valued women more than men from Earth did, that was a big plus in the aliens’ favor.
“Well?” Dapkey persisted.
Aelanna bravely told the manager the truth.
The entire sordid experience spilled out of her mouth.
“And I wasn’t good enough for him. I’m twenty-seven.
I want to have kids before I’m thirty and I’m running out of time.
Brad was my last hope.” By the end of it she was crying, well, if not crying, sniffing loudly.
Dapkey slid a box of tissues over the desk. Aelanna looked up to thank her, and Dapkey’s expression had softened a bit.
She handed Aelanna a clipboard, the application form pinned on it. “Sit over there on the sofa and fill out the form, and we’ll see. I can’t promise anything. Would you like coffee or tea?”
“Coffee, please.”
Dapkey went out of the room and Aelanna focused on the form.
Most of it was straightforward: name, address, qualifications, ethnicity, that sort of thing, but a few things gave her trouble.
There were two whole pages of questions on health.
Birth parents, for example, she didn’t know who her birth parents were, but her mother had named her, and her family name was Smith.
If it was her father’s real name or her mother’s, she didn’t know.
She put the adoption agency that had placed her with foster parents in the hope they’d had contact with her mother.
A few questions were too personal.
Are you a virgin? In general terms, describe the level of sexual experience you have had.
She cursed under her breath. No, she wasn’t a virgin; she’d given Brad everything on the promise of marriage. The dirty rat.
Her mood had plummeted by the time she’d finished it, but she was more determined than ever to leave her life — the entire rancid mess of it — behind her and make a fresh start on another planet.
The receptionist entered with a cup of coffee, cream and sugar arranged on a little tray, set it on the low table in front of Aelanna and went out again.
Her difficult form completed, she relaxed and enjoyed her coffee.
Dapkey returned and took the form from Aelanna and sat behind her desk to read it.
A few hmms later, she called Aelanna back to the visitor’s chair in front of her desk.
“No parents, no family to leave behind and wonder where you’ve gone. No children. You seem to be the ideal candidate,” Ms. Dapkey said. She leaned forward and peered at Aelanna over the top of her spectacles. “You’re not a virgin.”
Aelanna was about to apologize but the woman stopped her with a hand. “Better. We don’t have the resources to deal with frightened virgins or reassure them. It’ll help that you know what you’re dealing with.”
Aelanna slumped in her seat, not quite sure how to respond.
Ms. Dapkey gripped the papers with both hands and thumped the edges decisively on the desk.
“That will be all. We’ll let you know if you’ve met the criteria by phone call. I’ll have to make certain enquiries based on the information you have given.” When she had the papers just as she liked them, she leaned back in her chair and raised a manicured brow. “Any questions?”
Aelanna had one. It had been preying on her mind ever since she’d committed to this crazy idea.
“The aliens, the warriors, I mean our husbands, mates, whatever you want to call them, will be suitable, won’t they?” she stammered.
Understanding occupied Ms. Dapkey’s face. “There won’t be any tentacles, is that what you’re afraid of?”
Aelanna swallowed and nodded nervously. “I have a thing about reptiles... lizards.” Her cheeks blazed with a blush she couldn’t hide. Oh well, she’d asked the question; she just had to wade through the discussion.
Dapkey smiled. “Rest assured we wouldn’t match you girls with reptiles or sea creatures, or other beings that have tentacles, or forked tongues, or are cold-blooded,” she said in a soothing tone. “Does that set your mind at rest?”
Aelanna nodded vigorously and the vibe coming off the manager was patience and tolerance itself.
“You may wait with your friend in reception. Send the other new girl in,” she replied.
There was nothing to say but thank you and she did that. Aelanna stood up, clutched her purse and left the office. The only thing she could remember about the Dapkey experience was her manicured blood-red nails as she straightened Aelanna's form.