I tucked my comms tablet back into my pocket. This was the only lift in the building, and even if that big guy took the stairs five at a time I knew I’d beat him to the bottom. But I still had to move quickly. I’d go straight to the New Toronto shuttle bay with my ticket and get off-world tonight.

I caught another glimpse of myself in the doors’ reflection and grimaced. I didn’t have a bag. Or money. Or even a change of clothes to get rid of my oil-streaked factory uniform.

But I had Mama’s pan.

A ticket.

A chance.

And if I had to marry some unknown alien to make good on that chance, well…

The grey, choppy surface of Lake New Nipissing flashed, cold and unwelcome, in my brain.

Well, it certainly beat the alternative.

4CHERRY

To my utter (and grateful) astonishment, not only was my ticket to Elora Station paid for, but also a stay in a small-but-tidy room. Though I still didn’t have any fresh clothes to change into, or enough money to buy a whole new outfit, I was at least able to have a hot shower and lay down in a clean bed.

Not that I slept. Not a damn wink. Nerves ate up my belly as I alternated between worrying about Magnus’ men finding me here and worrying about how tomorrow would go. I was to report to a human-Zabrian liaison office at 9am station-time for orientation and more details on the program. According to the data pamphlet that had downloaded itself onto my comms tablet, I’d get more information on the ranching outpost world and Zabrian culture so that I would be able to make an informed decision on whether to go or not.

But in my heart, I already knew what I’d do. I was leaving this fucking station as soon as my Zabrian husband would have me.

Of course, I’d have to live with him. Be his partner.

And sleep with him.

I shivered and drew the covers tighter around myself. I hadn’t slept beside anybody else except Mama, whom I’d shared a bed with in our tiny one-bedroom apartment.

I’d had sex before, but only with human men on Terratribe I. I’d seen more alien males on my walk through Elora Station to these temporary sleeping quarters than I’d seen in my entire twenty-six years of life. I cast my mind’s eye back over the various beings in the crowds and wondered if there was any one of those species that I would be wholly and utterly incapable of having sex with. There had been some distinctly beetle-looking bipeds and the thought of getting naked with one of them made my stomach clench queasily. But I was not in the position to be picky, here.

I’d marry a beetle man if I had to. Hell, maybe I would be the weird one to him.

Although the Zabrian Empire was recruiting human women for this bride program, so we humans couldn’t be too unattractive to them. Hopefully.

The last thing I wanted was for my future husband to get one look at me and flat-out change his mind and send me back. I’d have to be on my best behaviour. Make sure I won him over so that he wanted to keep me even if he thought I was less than appealing.

With these sorts of thoughts on my mind, I tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 8am station-time. I grimaced as I pulled on yesterday’s uniform, shaking my head at myself in the mirror. I guessed I didn’t have to worry about my husband rejecting me if I didn’t even get through the recruitment process. Knowing my clothing was not particularly presentable, I spent extra time trying to tame my wavy brown hair, smoothing it back into a halfway-decent braid. Once my teeth and face were clean, I figured that was as good as it was gonna get, and I headed out the door.

Terratribe I had its crowds, especially during break times or shift changes at the factory, but it never felt like this. Back home, there was always a grey drudgery attached to movement in large groups, all of us trudging off to complete our work or to get home and sleep a bit before we did it all over again the next day. But here, people moved with a happy, fizzing sort of energy, many of them with smiles on their faces. Sweet-smelling drinks were carried and shiny shopping bags dangled from claws and fingers and tentacles. And the crazy thing was that this wasn’t even as busy as Elora Station got. Elora Station followed the Old-Earth calendar system, which meant it was currently June here. From what I’d heard, this place really got popping during the Old-Earth Christmas season.

It was probably good I was here during the off-season, because even now I was overwhelmed by the sounds and the smells and the colours. Absurdly, I wished I’d brought my pan out from the bedroom of my station sleeping quarters, even though I rationally knew I’d look completely insane in my dirty uniform carrying around a massive, heavy pan caked with blood I hadn’t even scrubbed off yet. I’ll have to do that as soon as I get my hands on a sponge or a scrub brush and some oil for re-seasoning.

I moved from the outer edge of this circular floor of Elora Station to the centre where shining orbs zipped up and down in a vast column, shimmering lifts that put the creaky Terratribe I elevators to shame. I got one all to myself and spent so long gawking at how quickly the floors flashed past outside that I ended up getting off on the wrong level.

I would have turned right back around and gotten back in my zippy little orb, if it weren’t for the richest coffee-smell to have ever graced my nostrils taunting me from a small shop ahead. Deciding that I had enough time (and enough credits, barely) for a drink, I hustled through the crowds of humans and non-humans alike to the shop.

It was more like a kiosk, just a tiny counter with an opening above it. I stepped up to the counter and was greeted by a pretty human woman with shiny black hair and a name tag that read Sophie. She looked slightly familiar, as if I’d seen her before on Terratribe I. But I was probably just imagining it.

“Good morning! What can I get for you?” she said, her smile so cute that I couldn’t help smiling back.

“Coffee, please,” I told her. “Whatever’s quickest, I guess,” I added, casting my eye over a long and slightly intimidating menu.

“Got it. A black Americano, X!” she said, turning slightly. I jolted, noticing the hulking alien male in the shadows behind her, working the espresso machine. He was truly ginormous, two heads taller than Sophie, his bulky shoulders nearly busting the seams of his tight white dress shirt. Two great black horns curved out of the top of his head, and his yellow eyes burned like acid above a terrifyingly fangy snout.

I’d never seen one before, but I was pretty sure I knew what he was: a chimera. One of the Galkor Empire’s genetically modified super soldiers. A mutated monster literally built for fighting. What the hell he was doing in this tiny shop pouring coffees was anyone’s damn guess. I was even more surprised and confused when, as he passed the small cup over to the counter, what looked like a wedding ring glinted on his hand.

Sophie gave him a winsome smile and patted his bulging forearm.

She had a wedding ring, too.

Holy shit. That’s her husband?!

I spent so long looking at the curiously mismatched pair – short and tall, human and alien, smiley and growly – that Sophie had to lift the cup up into my eyeline to get my attention.

“Sorry!” I said, feeling heat creep into my cheeks. “Thank you!”

If Sophie noticed my gaping, she was generous enough not to mention it. Maybe she was used to it. A chimera holed up in a human-run station like this was bound to draw attention. Especially if he’d married one of us.

But, oddly, it made me feel a bit better about what I was about to do. Sophie looked happy with her alien husband. And X… Well, I doubted it was even possible for him to look happy with that frowny sort of snout. But as I backed away from the counter, moving to the side to make room for the next customer, I saw his heavy, dark green tail lift and gently stroke the small of Sophie’s back. Just once; impossibly gentle.