Chapter 4 It’s a Starship, Eve
IT’S A STARSHIP, EVE
I head out through the hotel's grand bronze doors. A black SUV waits at the curb, and I relax a bit when I see the familiar face of Clay, one of our private drivers, standing beside the vehicle. After the warnings from Miranda and Sophia, seeing a friendly face feels like a small mercy.
“You’re going to love your new position at the Celestial Spire, Eve,” Cal says unnecessarily, appearing at the passenger door and handing me my e-reader. He meets Clay's eyes in a silent exchange.
Clay opens the door for me with a polite nod.
I slide onto cool leather seats that smell.
.. wrong. Not the usual new-car scent or chemical, leather polish.
The interior smells sharper, laced with something metallic and a faint trace of petrichor.
I decide it’s the unfamiliar smell of billionaires and try not to let it bother me.
“Thanks,” I say to Cal through the open window, snapping on my seatbelt. The SUV doors lock with a heavy, mechanical sound that belongs on a bank vault, not a vehicle. I tell myself it’s just my overactive imagination, nothing more.
The windows go up, and Clay shifts the car into drive.
And that’s it. I’m on my way to my new position at the Celestial Spire at its mysterious location. But as I look around, I can’t help but notice the car’s dashboard is covered in unfamiliar touch panels marked with symbols instead of English letters.
Perhaps it’s an imported car.
“How long until we reach the airport?” I ask.
Clay makes eye contact with me as he adjusts the rearview mirror but doesn't answer me immediately. When he does speak, his voice sounds different. More formal. “It won’t be long. The system is calibrating. Sorry about the temperature drop. It's needed for transport parameters.”
“Transport parameters?” I notice the air is getting noticeably cooler, and I button up my blazer trying not to freak out.
Maybe this is a rich-people thing?
Then I watch as Clay presses a symbol on the console and the windows suddenly blacken completely. No tint. No gradual darkening. Just black.
“Clay, what the hell?” Panic creeps into my voice. “I can't see outside.”
“The car is not exactly standard issue,” he says, and his accent sounds different now. Less local, more... I don’t know, just something’s not right.
And I’m starting to freak out.
I’m being trafficked!
The SUV makes a hard turn, and my body presses against the door. I can feel we're moving fast, but the complete darkness outside is disorienting. “We're heading away from the airport. I can feel it. Where are you taking me? Clay?”
“We're not going to a commercial airport.” His voice is getting stranger by the minute, like he's dropping a mask he's worn for years. “It'll take you seven days to reach the Celestial Spire, but first I have to transport you to the ship.”
“The ship? Is the hotel in the South Pacific?”
Clay looks at me through the rearview mirror. “No, Eve. You'll be traveling by starship.”
“You're joking.” But even as I say it, I know he's not. The strange smells, the locked doors, the symbols on the dashboard, and the way Cal has been acting—it all clicks into place with horrible clarity.
“I'm not joking,” Clay says in a matter-of-fact tone. “I would never joke about something as serious as this.”
“Oh God, please don’t let this be happening!” I grab the door handle, yanking on it desperately. “Clay, open this door! Let me out! I've changed my mind! I want to keep the job I have! I don’t want this promotion!”
He keeps driving at a terrifying speed. “We both have obligations, Eve. You signed a galactic contract, and I'm under contract to deliver you to your transport. Neither of us can back out.”
“Galactic?” The word comes out as a whisper. My vision starts to blur at the edges. “This is insane! You've known me for years. I'm a good person. I don't deserve to be trafficked to... to...”
“You're not being trafficked,” he says with surprising gentleness.
“It's a real receptionist position, just not on Earth.
That's why Cal confiscated your phone, so you couldn't contact anyone once you knew.
The moment you learn about an alien presence, you're technically subject to Intergalactic Court secrecy laws like the rest of us.”
I stare at him in the mirror, my mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Alien presence. Intergalactic Court.” I repeat the words, but they don't make sense. They can't make sense. “How long?” My voice cracks. “How long have aliens been on Earth?”
“For some time.”
“You’ve fucking trafficked me. I don’t even have a phone. The least you can do is tell me the truth.”
He sighs. “Humans aren’t supposed to know. We’ve been around for centuries, interfering in Earth’s affairs.”
“The Ascendant Alliance?”
“No, the Ascendant Alliance is a new player and has only been active here for twenty years, recruiting humans for various positions throughout the galaxy.”
I feel like I'm drowning. The air in the SUV feels too thin, and I can't catch my breath. “So you're... you're...”
“Not human. I come from a place called Reima Two.” He says it so casually, like he's telling me his favorite color.
I start hyperventilating. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” I whisper, the prayer tumbling out automatically. “Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
“Eve, you need to breathe slower.”
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” Tears are streaming down my cheeks, and I feel like my head is going to explode with all of this new information. “Sister Agnes always said the Devil would come for me, and I never believed her.”
“I'm not the Devil,” Clay says. “And neither is anyone working for the Ascendant Alliance.”
“How would I know? Maybe this is Hell. Maybe I died in that car accident this morning, and this is my punishment for not believing in Jesus enough.”
The SUV lurches suddenly, and a metallic roar reverberates around us. My ears pop so violently I cry out in pain. “Owwww. What's happening?”
“We're ascending through the atmosphere,” Clay explains. “Some people get motion sickness. Try to stay calm.”
“Ascending through the...” I can't finish the sentence.
Gravity presses me into my seat, and I feel like I'm being crushed and lifted at the same time. My vision blurs from tears and from the G-forces. I want to live and die simultaneously. I want to be here and back on Earth all at once. I’m just as curious now as I am scared out of my mind.
“Our Father, who art in heaven,” I whisper through the crushing pressure, “hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.”
“It'll be over soon,” Clay says as we break through into the void.
When the pressure eases, Clay lowers the blackened windows. I wipe my eyes and look around at the black of space and stars as far as I can see. It's the most beautiful and the most frightening thing I've ever seen.
“Take me back,” I manage. “I’m too scared to do this.”
Clay glances back at me with something that might be sympathy. “Eve, you’re special; that’s why you’ve been chosen by the Sovereigns to work at the Celestial Spire. I know they asked for you specifically. You'll have a good life in the galaxy.”
“Did you drive Denise to a spaceship too?” The question tears out of me more accusatorily than I intended. “Do you know what happened to her?”
“Last I heard, she chose to stay with a wealthy Imperial citizen.”
“But Cal showed me her Facebook. Her wedding picture.”
“That was probably created for her family's benefit. To keep them from asking questions.”
Nausea hits me like a tidal wave, and I can’t speak.
However, that doesn’t stop Clay from flying toward a massive, hulking craft bristling with green lights that's bigger than any building I've ever seen. It looks like a fortress floating in space.
Clay docks with practiced ease, and I wonder how many women he has transported in this way. How many lives has he helped destroy with his gentle voice and familiar face?
The SUV's door unlocks with a hiss, and immediately I'm hit with alien scents. Pungent incense, oily machinery, and something else entirely, something that makes my brain scream “other.”
Clay turns in his seat to face me, and as I watch in horror, his skin shifts to a gleaming pewter color. His hair straightens and turns midnight black.
I scream like I'm in a horror movie and being chased around at a sleepaway camp. I scream like my world is ending. Because it fucking is.
“This can't be real!” I cry, “You're an alien! You've been an alien this whole time!”
“I thought you understood that already. Relax, Eve. I need to give you some important information before you board.”
But I can't relax. I can't do anything but stare at this grey creature who used to be Clay, who I trusted, who worked beside me for years with a human face while planning to steal me from my planet.
“Listen carefully,” he continues. “You might encounter Imperial fundamentalists onboard. They worship ancient goddesses and can be intense about their beliefs. Keep your distance if possible.”
I nod automatically, though I'm not sure I'm processing anything he's saying.
Then the practical questions start hitting me like bullets.
“Wait. How will I breathe on an alien planet? What do aliens eat? Can my body even digest their food?” My voice gets higher with each question.
“Will I age differently in space? Is all the radiation in space going to kill me? Or am I going to die from some alien disease?”
Clay's expression softens slightly. “The Celestial Spire maintains Earth-normal atmosphere and gravity. Most species in the galaxy have similar biological needs. You'll be fine, Eve.”
“Fine?” I laugh hysterically. “I'm being trafficked by aliens, and you say I'll be fine?”
“I know this is overwhelming.” Clay looks down at his hands, and for the first time since his transformation, he seems almost human again with the gesture.
“I've been on Earth for eight years. I've gotten to know humans, worked alongside them.
You're not the first person I've transported, and it never gets easier.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“Because I have a family back on Reima Two. A sick father and some brothers. This job pays enough to support them.” He meets my eye. “I'm not proud of the deception, but I'm not a monster either. The positions are real, and most humans do adapt.”
“Most humans.” I seize on the words. “What happens to the ones who don't?”
“The Spire's owners... they're complex. But they're not unnecessarily cruel. Just follow the rules and do what’s asked of you, and you’ll be fine.
Oh, and one more thing, don't let any doctors try to 'calm' you.
They're telepathic and can influence human minds.
But if you say no, they legally can't touch you.”
“Telepathic,” I repeat numbly.
Clay presses a silver necklace into my palm, etched with symbols that seem to shift when I'm not looking directly at them.
“This identifies you as a legal employee and acts as a translator.
It's not perfect, so it'll be annoying, but it's better than nothing.
At the Spire, you'll get a proper implanted translator and a formal ID necklace that you must wear at all times. Unfortunately, not all humans are free in the galaxy.”
“Not all free?”
“Wear this at all times and you will be protected. No one will cross the Sovereigns Rafe and Lorian. I don’t have time to explain more,” Clay says and helps me out of the SUV.
I stand on shaky legs, the artificial gravity making me queasy. Across the docking bay, I see another grey man approaching. Tall and imposing, with long black braided hair and a midnight black uniform. His eyes pass over me as if I'm interesting cargo.
“Commander, this is the new human receptionist for the Celestial Spire,” Clay says in a harsh alien language, but my translator repeats it back in English. “She is to be treated according to her rank.”
The Commander nods curtly and gestures for me to follow him.
Clay turns to me one last time. “If anything goes wrong, use Cal's card. He'll help if he can. Remember, it’s a real job.”
I watch as Clay gets back into the shuttle that's no longer pretending to be an SUV and vanishes into the stars, leaving me alone with alien strangers.
I stand at the threshold of the ship, my handbag on my shoulder and clutching my translator necklace like a lifeline.
“The docking area is not a comfortable place to sleep,” the grey man says. “Don’t be afraid. We will not harm you. We are here to transport you to the Celestial Spire. I am the Commander of this ship.” Then he gestures to a corridor on the other side of the hangar.
I nod, he begins walking, and I force my feet to follow his, each step in my black heels echoing on the metal floor like a countdown to whatever comes next.
Behind us, through a transparent barrier, Earth hangs in space like a misty blue marble.
So beautiful and so impossibly far away.
I think about my tiny studio apartment. I'll never see it again. Never walk down a familiar street or smell freshly baked cookies or taste a real coffee. I'll never sit in another Terra Sanctum staff meeting and roll my eyes at Cal's attempts at humor. Now I know why he was so bad at it. He’s a mother fucking alien, and I’m pretty convinced he’s trafficked me.
And no one will know what really happened to me.
No one will file a missing person’s report.
No one will put my picture on milk cartons.
I've spent my whole life being invisible, and now I've literally vanished without a trace. Miranda and Sophia were right. I should have listened to them, and now it’s too late.
I begin following the Commander and I can’t control my emotions. My tears start again as I catch glimpses of Earth from the small windows as we walk through the ship. In each window, Earth grows smaller. I'm literally watching my entire world disappear, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.