Ginny

GINNY

" T his is not ‘a few details,'" I mutter as Sandi wields a DNA testing gun near my arm.

"It's the best way to get a match…I mean get your details in the system. Especially if you're hoping to get lucky tonight," she says, still smiling although it's rapidly becoming a grimace.

Just because I have to sign up for the lottery doesn't mean I have to make it easy.

So, I'm not.

Sandi finally jams the gun into my arm with some force.

"Ow."

"Sorry. It'll only take a few seconds for the results to come through." She sits back down and clips the gun into its holster.

I watch it as if it's a wasp in a jar.

All too soon, it chimes, and Sandi grins at me.

"Congratulations," she trills. "You're a winner. The last transport to the hub is leaving right now."

"What? It's that easy?" I squeak.

Every single alarm bell is going off in my head. Every. Single. One. I should not have won the first time I entered. But before I can make an escape and face whatever shit Kevin is going to throw my way, I'm grabbed by the arm and levered out of the chair with a force I wouldn't have expected from such a slight woman. At the back of the office, a door slides open, and the biggest metal robot I've ever seen stands, motionless.

"What's happening?" I ask, feeling panic rising.

"Starlight Brides operates from its own hub. You'll travel there tonight, and tomorrow you'll meet your husband. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Sandi says as I'm shoved into the pincers of the robot.

"Starlight...Brides?" I query querulously. "I'm in a bride program?"

"Good luck, and thank you for choosing Starlight!" Sandi says, all sunshine, as the door slides shut and the robot pulls me against his metal body.

"Hold on," it says in a deep, metallic voice. "Going down."

In a rush of motion, I'm spirited down a travel tube which deposits me in an area of Britannia I've never seen before. It's the dock, and it is teeming with life, even at this hour.

"This way," the robot intones, although given I'm still being held in its pincer hand and I'm balancing on the roller mechanism which propels it, I'm going wherever it goes.

Nearby is a sleek ship, all metal and glass. I'm unceremoniously deposited on the mechanical gangway which whisks me inside.

"Welcome to Starlight Brides." An artificially generated male human face appears on a vid screen in front of me. "Please take your seat, and the steward will attend to you with refreshments shortly."

The cabin is plush, and the seats are wide and comfortable. I do as I am told as the door to the dock closes and a much smaller robot appears with a glass of clear liquid, which it hands to me. I stare around as the ship begins to move, gulping down the water as we smoothly launch out into space.

"The bride will rest now," the AI man intones. "Travel to the hub will take approximately…"

I don't hear the rest because my eyelids are heavy and my body heavier.

"Bollocks," I slur as drugged sleep takes me.

"Ah, you're awake."

I wipe my drooling mouth with the back of my hand and stare around, blinking hard to clear my head and eyes. I'm sat at a very similar desk to Sandi's. Metal which looks like wood, walls which are clean and shiny, soft floor coverings.

"Wha-?" My mouth doesn't quite want to work.

The blue-haired, smooth green-skinned alien sat at the desk gives me a nonjudgmental smile.

"Hi, I'm Piet. I'm your Starlight Brides liaison officer. Don't worry about the way you're feeling right now—it'll wear off. Wormhole travel is rough for the more primitive species. You'll thank me later."

If I could make my jaw work, I'd most definitely tell him what this primitive species is going to do to him later. Instead I imagine flushing his head down a toilet and feel better.

"In the meantime, there's just the formalities to be taken care of," he says with a fixed smile. "You've been matched with King Asteron of Xnos." He looks me up and down carefully. "I mean, the program is never wrong…anyway…he is your match, so you just need to put your DNA on the contract, and you are wed."

I lift my hand, slowly, given like the rest of me it hasn't quite caught up with events. Piet slides a tablet underneath, and before I can do anything, my fingertips have hit the screen and it lights up with a chime.

"And you've selected bride AND breeder. Interesting."

"Wha-?"

"The choices for humans are bride or breeder when determining the level of mate and type of employment."

"Hardly a choice." My mouth starts to work, although it's still struggling.

Piet shrugs. "It's not really, but humans are new to Starlight Brides."

"Doesn't fill me with confidence," I reply, finding my arms and legs are coming back to life, finally. "And I'm not sure I want to be a bride. I thought this was a jobs lottery?"

"How about we get you freshened up and ready for your new husband?" he says without answering my question and getting to his feet. "You've signed all the paperwork and I'm sure just need a little while to get used to your new life."

He's wearing a smart green tunic in an iridescent taffeta-like fabric, albeit instead of the legs I was expecting, he has multiple tentacles. I find myself mesmerized by the way he moves.

"Up you get." He gently lifts me to my feet. "Can you walk?"

I test my strength and nod.

"Good, because the last thing I want to do is get my scent on you. It'll drive the king mad with envy."

I decide my addled brain probably made that last part up as I follow Piet with a wobbly gait out of his office and into a crystal atrium. Stars shine above us, and the entire place glitters with light, which reflects the Starlight Brides logo everywhere.

As I'm led across, there are females dotted here and there, so many species, but I only recognize a few. It makes me realize how much has been kept from us on the Britannia . Or, at least, kept from those of us doing the grunt work. The vids available in my quarters and in the dining halls were always limited and usually on a repeat loop. They suggested the galaxies outside were dangerous and ugly.

"This place is something else," I say, having found my voice at last.

"You were on the S.C. Britannia , weren't you?" Piet looks at his sophisticated tablet again and shakes his head. "You're in for a rude awakening."

Something I thought I'd already had.