Izzy

IZZY

S artak is not the dump I was expecting, although I have been living in Tatatunga for some time, so my expectations were fairly low.

The city is modern, bright, and filled with multi-colored vegetation. On the horizon, I can see the many weapons factories the place is famed for. They belch out smoke in a way which screams “climate change.”

Also, I managed not to strangle the madame in her sleep, even if she did snore like she was dying. She was, in fact, very kind to me for the trip, especially after I developed a headache as we neared our destination. One which had my lying on my bunk with a cooling gel pack over my eyes.

What are the symptoms of pregnancy? Are headaches one of them? Riklinn and her talk of knots bypassing birth control have clearly got me worried. So much so I refused any pain relief offered, much to the madame’s concern.

“I have a place I’d like to go to get information,” she says as we get into ground transport once again. “But if you’re not well, we can go to the hotel instead.”

I do feel like throwing up as the dull ache in my head throbs over my left eye, but I shake my head. “No, I need to find out about Blayn. Let’s go.”

I sit heavily. It’s not like I’ve done anything more than sit for three nova-days, but I’m exhausted.

Madame leans forward and puts something in my lap. It’s a squat blue sausage. I stare at it and then at her.

“Put it around your neck. It’ll help with the pain,” she exhorts me. “There’s no narcotics in it,” she adds as a reassurance.

I curl the sausage under my hair, and it immediately cools, sinking into my skin comfortably.

“Good?” she asks.

“Yes, good.” I give her a tight smile.

Now we’re close to Blayn, my fears, my concerns are bubbling to the surface.

“What if he doesn’t want me?” I blurt out. “When we find him, I mean.”

“You forget I’ve seen you with him.” Madame picks an invisible piece of lint from her skirts. “If there was ever a male who needed an entire army to drag him away from his female, it was the gladiator residing in cubicle 5-YV1.” She sighs. “So many species, so many of us would dream of having a mate look at us the way the Gryn looked at you.”

“Really?” I say the word before my brain engages.

“You think I know nothing of love because I run a pleasure house?” The madame snorts. “Love is all I know. I cater to love, as well as a few other kinks.”

It’s my turn to snort, not only because she’s referred to love as a kink, but she caters to far more than “a few.”

“I’m worried…do you think he’ll be pleased I came?” I finally voice one of the many things niggling around in my head but probably the only one I’m prepared to share with her.

“I’ll make him see sense if he doesn’t.” She reaches out and takes my hand briefly. “And you’d better tell me if you feel unwell, or I’ll be making you see sense.”

“I’m not entirely sure that threat works,” I say, given she’s conjured a smile from me.

“It should,” the madame growls, patting my hand. “We’re here.”

We’ve pulled up in an area which looks residential, and I’m not entirely sure where we are until I get out and see what’s behind us.

It might not be as big as the Tatatunga dome, but it is a dome nonetheless, a dark and brooding church to a death cult.

My chest tightens, and the pain in my head intensifies briefly. I put my hand over my eye, and the throbbing dissipates, and I can hurry after the madame who is entering a leafy courtyard through a gate.

Once inside, I realize what the place is. A pleasure house.

Across the courtyard is a willowy Trefa female who moves as if she’s on wheels towards us.

“Birrix!” she says as she reaches us, embracing the madame and rubbing her chin on her ears one by one. “What a delight!”

“It’s good to see you, Jikki,” the madame says, her face wreathed in smiles.

“And is this the one?” The Trefa madame, Jikki, looks around the madame at me.

“Yes, this is the one who fell in love and had to come halfway around Trefa to find her mate and the father of her child.”

“What?” I look between the beaming madames, “I’m not…I can’t be…”

Madame Jikki smiles. “You don’t think we’ve had plenty of experience in this regard? Birrix can spot a pregnant worker from orbit.”

The madame chokes on her laugh. “Not exactly, but you, my little human, are most definitely pregnant.”

“You can’t possibly know that, not if I don’t know it,” I fire at the pair of them, at once horrified they’ve drilled to my deepest anxiety and embarrassed they’ve found me out.

She opens her big bag and brings out what I can only describe as a wand. She holds it out at me. I don’t move.

“I tested you on the way here. Provided this works for your species, it won’t be wrong.”

I snatch the thing from her. It lights up blue in my hands, and symbols which state “with young” light up along the side.

“Aside from the when and how…” I gasp, my mind going a million times an hour. “This can’t be…”

“Ah, the folly of the young,” Madame Jikki says.

“I’m not young. I’m thirty-four.” I gasp, but breathing seems to be getting difficult and my vision is narrowing.

I’m far too hot, plucking at my jacket, attempting to get it off as the planet spins around me and everything dims.

Until all I can hear is Blayn’s voice in my ear, calling my name. A cruel trick of my head because he’s the only creature I want in my life.

And he’s the one creature denied to me.