“Maybe then we could try to look humans up in the Zabrian Imperial Database,” Fallon went on. “There might even be an image or two…”

“You should have thought about these things before you voted,” came Zohro’s voice from behind us. He strolled from the doorway to the furthest post where his golden mount was tied.

“I still cannot believe you’ve turned down the chance at a woman,” Fallon said, watching him.

“I’ve turned down a bride picked from the dredges of the universe. Not even Zabrian!”

“What do you know of them?” I asked, unable to hold the question back.

I’d voted yes. The plans were in motion. I would now receive a human, whatever the great dusty blazes that was. The more prepared I could be, the better.

“I know they’re small,” Zohro scoffed. “Weak. Prone to injury and illness.”

That… did not sound good.

“Oh,” said Fallon, concern creeping into his voice. “Well. She does not need to be strong. I am strong. And if she gets injured or ill, I will take care of her.”

That sounded like a lot of work when we already had a lot of work to do.

“Take care of her how? You just admitted you don’t know the first thing about human biology!” Zohro countered. “No. What is likely to happen in the case of her inevitable illness or injury is that your bride will die and then you’ll have a charge of neglect or even a new charge of murder upon your head, added to your other convictions.”

Fallon’s eyes went bright white. He made to leap off his saddle down to Zohro, but I snapped my tail out against his chest and grunted, jerking my chin towards Warden Tenn’s yet-open door. Warden Tenn was responsible for our cooperation and good behaviour out here. He didn’t tolerate fights. At least, not when they happened directly on his own dusty doorstep. The last thing any of us needed was a stunner blast to the guts.

“Have you ever seen a human?” I asked Zohro, letting my tail slide away from Fallon. “Or is this just what you’ve heard?”

Zohro mounted his shuldu and took his sweet, cursed time to answer. When he finally did, it was with a flat and hissy, “No. I have not seen one.”

“Ha!” Fallon shouted, so loudly it made his shuldu snuffle and toss his head in alarm. “You wouldn’t know a human’s head from her tail if you encountered one!”

“At least I’m aware of the fact that humans do not have tails!” Zohro retorted.

“No tail?” Fallon looked disconcerted by this.

I said nothing, ruminating on the idea of working out on a ranch with no tail. Tails were very useful things. Maybe she’ll have a third arm to compensate…

“You three are idiots,” Zohro said with a narrowed white glance as he took up his shuldu’s reins in his pink hands.

“Only two of us voted yes besides the warden,” Fallon snapped. “Who’s the idiot now?”

“You, Silar, and Oaken,” Zohro clarified. “Warden Tenn just contacted him on his data tab. He was even more nonsensically enthusiastic about a bride than you are, Fallon. Said he’d find a way to tunnel through the mountain snow if he had to, in order to get here in time to meet her.”

I inhaled sharply. “Oaken wants a bride?”

“Did I not just say that?”

“Did Warden Tenn tell him she would be human?”

Zohro gave me a suspicious look and flicked his tail nonchalantly.

“Yes.”

“What is it?” Fallon asked in my following silence.

“Oaken is the only one with a data tab screen capable of visuals,” I reminded Fallon. It took the other male a moment to catch my meaning, but when he did his mouth stretched in a wide, fang-toothed grin.

“He would have been able to look human females up before he agreed to take a bride,” Fallon said, still grinning while Zohro scowled. “And he said he’d hurry back here for one? That can only be a good thing! He must have really liked what he saw.” His voice went soft with dreamy wonder. “I wonder what it is he saw…”

As for me, I cared little if she were ugly or pretty, tall or short, bald or hairy. I was still stuck on the fact she’d have no tail. Hard to do all that needed to be done out here with no tail…

“Did Oaken happen to mention how many arms humans have?” I frowned at Zohro while Fallon gazed moonily at the sunset-streaked horizon.

The dark-haired pink male gave me an odd look.

“No. But I am fairly certain that they have two arms. Same as us.”

Curses.

“Two arms,” Fallon said brightly. “That is a very good number!”

“Would be a good number if there were also a tail,” I grumbled.

“I do not believe I’ve ever heard you spit out this many words in one conversation, Silar,” Zohro said. “If you’ve changed your mind, go in and tell Warden Tenn you do not want a bride. The vote is cast, but there’s no point in bringing one out here for you if you do not want her.”

My chest felt strangely hot. I knew my eyes were white when I pulled my reins tight and turned my mount homeward.

“I did not say I do not want one.”

I urged my mount into a run.

3CHERRY

Bone-tired from my shift at the New Toronto shuttle engine factory, I let myself into my gloomy apartment. I closed the door. Then I locked it. Then I deadbolted it.

Then I dragged a chair in front of it.

It had become my new ritual. Ever since last month, when I’d missed the interest payment on my loan for the first time.

None of Magnus’ men had come for me. Yet.

When they did, I was pretty damn sure that a lock or deadbolt or chair wouldn’t do anything to stop them. But at least it might buy me a little time, or at least make enough noise to give a girl some warning.

Never should have taken that loan, I thought bitterly, shaking my head at the dumbass six-months-ago Cherry Dawson who’d gone to a fucking crime boss to make rent instead of figuring something, anything else out. A small voice reminded me just how tough that month had been. A parts shortage had led to a factory shut down immediately after a rental increase. To top it all off, this had come directly on the heels of Mama’s death, which meant our household income had been slashed by more than half, since she’d had more seniority at the factory than me and had made a much better wage.

If Mama could only see me now. Her only daughter double-locking the door and shoving furniture in front of it to keep the loan sharks at bay just one more night. She’d be just as pissed at six-months-ago Cherry as I currently was.

I may have been just trying to stay afloat on a sea of stinking shit at the time. But now my boat had a hole and I was fucking sinking in it.

I sighed, taking out my Old-Earth-style cast iron pan, the only thing of Mama’s I had left that I hadn’t yet sold. At this point I knew I needed to sell it too, but nobody on Terratribe I, humanity’s oldest industrial colony planet, would likely have any use for the hunk of iron. If someone did buy it, it would probably just be melted down for its base metal. The thought of losing the seasoning my Mama, and her Mama, and her Mama before that had lovingly built up on the surface of the pan made me woozy with a sorrowful sort of fear. That feeling was far worse than the terror of angry mobsters at my door wanting their money back.

I left the heavy black pan to heat on my small apartment stove and turned to my fridge for a protein block to fry up for my dinner.

But I never opened it.

Because I heard someone else trying to open another door instead.

I froze, my heart swelling all the way up to my throat as my apartment door’s handle rattled. Whoever was out there didn’t bother with that strategy long. Once they figured out it was locked, they switched tactics. A buzzing hiss was soon followed by the sound of sizzling, and I watched in horror as a moment later the entire handle fell to the floor, laser-cut right out of the door. The laser’s beam went to work along the edge of the door after that, melting through the deadbolt.