Chapter 2

Iwas sweating as I looked up from watching the latest group session the Norlons had held with a bunch of American politicians about the sex workers volunteering to go to Nor and work in brothels. My mother and her new pastor stood in front of where I sat at the kitchen island, her scowling like she always did nowadays and him smiling like a used car salesman. I had to choose my words carefully.

"What, um, did you want me to do?" I asked, not even trying to offer an opinion on what I'd just watched. They didn't want my actual thoughts, and I didn't want to risk getting this week's preferred rally cry wrong. They might want me to walk the neighborhood and write down the names of anyone I suspected to be a drug addict or?—

"We want you to fill out the form," Pastor Halbert said, "and get recruited so that you can infiltrate their organization."

The fuck? Okay, that was nowhere near what I might've guessed.

"You want me to become a sex worker?"

Now when I'd first heard about that whole thing, I'd given a few seconds thought to applying just to escape my existence. Leave Earth for an alien planet where they'd be excited to have me? No one here got excited when they saw me walk into a room. But somewhere out there was a place where aliens would line up for the chance to do me. Sign me up!

But no way would I ever risk being rejected, having someone find out I'd ever applied, and get myself on The List. That damn thing was the Prestonville town counsel's equivalent of being blacklisted, shunned, and targeted by all three thousand residents. The Puritans had nothing on these people. Thanks to the fact that I'd barely squeaked through high school and had zero skills for anything, I couldn't even leave this backward piece of hell to make it on my own.

And here I was being asked by two of the worst judges in town to sign up to sin with the aliens.

"What we want, son," Halbert said smoothly, "is for you to gather information from the inside and pass it back to us so we can get it to those who can do something about it. You'll be doing God's work for your entire country, Squire."

Oh shittin' fuck. They wanted me to be a spy? And I knew right away who they'd take all the intel to. Ever since Mama had gotten in with Pastor Halbert it had been nothing but Humans First, twenty-four/seven. I'd thought the Trump rallies had been bad, but those looked like fifth grade bake sales by comparison. Holy hell.

Could I really do this? I felt a fat drop of sweat slither down my spine. Filling out a form, yeah, of course I could do that. But what if I convinced the Norlons to take me on? Could I really spy on them?

Well, hold on there. Did I actually need to do that? Once I got out of Prestonville, if I didn't report in with my findings, it wasn't like someone would track me down and bring me back. Right? People had left on missions before and never returned. Folks either assumed they were dead or had the counsel put them on The List. If I wasn't here, being listed wouldn't even matter.

"Jesus, Squire," Mama complained. "Are you even listening?"

She thought I was slow. My grades hadn't helped that assumption, but I really just liked to think things through before speaking. Work it all out and then say something. Plenty of people could stand to learn the same. Of course, I wasn't about to tell her I was making plans with this round of thinking.

"Yes, Mama. I'm just surprised."

Halbert put his big hand on my shoulder. "You see, son, you're the right age group, you're good-looking, and I think you could make a good soldier of the Lord for us in this moment."

I gulped back everything I wished I could say about shoving his lord where the sun didn't shine and just nodded up at him with my most clueless expression fixed to my face.

He patted my head and smiled. "There then, all you need to do is fill out the application to the best of your ability and put it in God's hands. I just know He'll help a sweet soul like you."

Shittin' fuck, this man. But all I did was nod and pick up the iPad before heading for my bedroom at the back of the house. They probably expected me to fill out the form right there, but oh no, I wasn't about to answer sex questions in front of them. And dammit, I probably couldn't answer honestly either. What if there was some kind of indicator for preferences? If they found out I'd gotten sorted into the rainbow group, I'd be done for before I even got started.

I closed my bedroom door and settled at my little desk. There was also the problem that this iPad was Mama's, so I had no idea what it might be able to tell her about my answers. Should I use my phone instead? That was probably way safer, but I still couldn't risk being honest.

In case anyone came in to check on me, I opened the form on the iPad and scrolled down some to make it look like I was working through the boxes. I got my phone out and searched for the form, finding it right at the top of the results.

With a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down by entering the basics. Name, address, and age got me through to a new page with the real questions. Sexual identity. I chose straight, my first lie. New questions appeared below that and asked me about preferred sexual positions, most attractive body parts, and favorite techniques. Shittin' fuck, I didn't know any of that! I knew some positions from the porn I snuck out behind the library where the wifi was good, but I'd never done anything. Techniques were the same and probably not right for the sexuality I'd had to choose. Body parts? Straight guys liked boobs, right?

I gasped when the next page showed me drawings of naked Norlons. They were anatomy drawings with labels and everything, but the detail was…detailed. Even though the straight version of me who'd filled out the form should probably be looking at the female tiger-like alien, I couldn't stop staring at the male. His cock was long and pink with tiny bumpy things all over the head and a bulge right behind it. More bumps were at the base. And it looked like it was pushing up out of a sheath of cream-colored fur with a pair of fat balls hanging below that.

For the first time, I saw the aliens as sexual beings and… Woo boy, I liked it! I could see myself lying with a big, furry cat alien and putting my ass in the air for that cock. I had such an urge to back up and change my answer to the sexuality question. I resisted. Everything about my escape plan hinged on me getting accepted but also on me being allowed to leave. If Mama or Pastor Halbert even suspected that I was a deviant, I'd be shipped off to conversion therapy faster than I could blink. I wasn't going to let that happen to me.

I made myself look at the female drawing. She wasn't built that differently from the male except for a softness to her face and what she had between her legs. Shittin' fuck, they wouldn't make applicants have sex with someone as a test, would they? I gulped hard, already knowing I couldn't fake that. Even my imagination ran away screaming at the thought.

To answer the questions on that page, I pretended it was asking me about the male and ticked all the yes/no options. Seemed like they wanted to make sure applicants knew these were the sort of bodies they'd be servicing, and I could honestly say I was intrigued and willing.

The rest of the pages of questions were them giving information about what it would be like to be a sex worker on Nor and making me agree or disagree with whether or not I thought it was a good thing. The info read like a damn fine job to me with health benefits, free room and board, being able to work your own hours, and having on-site security. Honest to god, it sounded like brothels were little kingdoms with the owner ruling but also taking care of everyone else. And the workers got to vote on things and have a say in all kinds of stuff, which was a hell of a lot better than anywhere I'd ever worked.

What was a little scary to me was all the info about being on a whole other planet. Like leaving Earth on one of their ships and flying across the galaxy to Nor. They'd speak English and they'd be friendly and all, but wow, it was a big deal to go there. They wanted a commitment but wouldn't hold a person to it if they couldn't stay—that was comforting since it probably wasn't cheap to fly folks back and forth.

I answered the questions positively, saying I'd be fine with leaving Earth for Nor. I'd deal with that if I got to that part of things down the line. No sense sweating about it now when I still had to agree to being contacted for a virtual interview and click submit.

No doubt Mama and Pastor Halbert would want to be there for the interview. Shittin' fuck, that would be hideously awkward and embarrassing. I'd have to lie so much and with them scrutinizing me while I did it. It would be hell. But if this was how I could get away, I'd have to suck it up and do it.

I agreed and submitted the form. A confirmation hit my email almost immediately with links to more information and an ad about a documentary coming out soon. That was interesting since it was going to be about the life of a human sex worker in a Nor brothel. At least it was going to be distributed for free online, so I'd have an easier time of watching it.

Before I relaxed or panicked over what I'd just done, I made myself clear the browsing history and all that to help make sure Mama couldn't see what all I'd entered. My email confirmation had a link to my answers, but I wouldn't tell them that. Maybe I should delete that email? I did, just in case. Hopefully, if I got any others, they'd be about acceptance and put me one step closer to getting out of here forever.

Things hadn't always been so bad. Mama had really never recovered from Dad's passing. She'd blamed the Jewish man who'd hit his car and the Latino first responder who hadn't been able to save him. She'd turned those little details into all kinds of hate aimed at the two ethnic groups and wouldn't be talked out of it. Trump had been spewing his shit by then, and she'd dragged me to every rally we could get to. I'd quickly learned to keep my mouth shut when we'd moved to Prestonville where the militant church folks ruled everything. I'd only been fifteen, grieving, newly gay, and trapped in hell.

Well, that was about to end. Even if they didn't accept me, maybe I could fake it. I could make up an email saying I had to go to an interview in New Orleans or something, Mama Pastor Halbert would give me their blessing, and I'd never look back. I could just get a job as a waiter somewhere and it wouldn't matter if I was living in a cardboard box—I'd be free. While I mourned not saving Mama from all this, she'd made her choices and was out of my reach. Regardless of what happened next, I'd save myself instead.