3. Ivy

Islept like a baby. The bed was as comfortable as the one back home.

Back home…

Not a day went by when I didn't think about my friends and family, my old job (okay, less about that), and the local barista I had a crush on.

He smiled at me every morning as he handed me my cappuccino, but then again, he probably smiled at everyone that way.

I could feel his arms on me now, stroking my skin and making the hairs stand on end. The electricity made a crackling sound.

Could Pablo be the one? I thought. I'd never thought of him as someone I might actually fall in love with but maybe…

I opened my eyes and for a moment, I thought my dream had come true.

An arm was draped around me and I used his broad chest as a pillow, my body was curled up alongside his and—

But his skin was as grey as granite.

Pablo didn't have grey skin!

I bolted upright and immediately recalled my surroundings.

I lay in an alien bed with alien sheets… and with an alien!

Kren lay sound asleep.

I thumbed through my memories from the previous night.

Had we… done anything?

I pressed my head into my palms and massaged my temples, a sudden headache striking hard.

No. We didn't do anything.

We stayed up all night talking. We must have fallen asleep during the night and automatically curled in each other's arms.

I peered at the thick protrusion poking at the blankets around his groin area.

Kren certainly deserved his nickname… Beast. They could use that thing to deforest jungles.

I slipped my legs out of bed and started when I noticed they were bare.

I'd taken the sheer dress off before sleeping, the way I always did.

I picked up the dress and, peering back and keeping a close eye on my "host," slipped it back on.

As flimsy as the dress was, it was a barrier between us as I backed into the bathroom.

I shut the door and let out a breath.

"This is nuts," I said to my reflection in the mirror. "Absolutely and totally nuts."

I shook my head and caught sight of the shower behind me.

Hot water. Was there any hot water?

I turned the tap on the sink. It was ice cold.

I turned it off and tried the other one. It was less cold… and then turned warm, then hot.

Yes!

I dumped the sheer dress on the towel rack and moved to the shower.

The water pressure was strong and thundered on top of my head—much better than the dribble we got in our showers at the Prize Pool.

The water was hot and soothing against my skin.

Amazing.

I laughed like a crazy person beneath the deluge.

I grabbed the soap and marveled that it was a whole bar of soap and not the tiny sliver I had to share with the other girls.

I lathered it up and happily scrubbed myself clean.

I even got to wash my hair in something that resembled shampoo!

There sure were perks to being the best fighter in this place!

I dried myself on a towel and wrapped my hair in it to dry.

I wrapped another one around me and considered whether or not I should head back out into the cell.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was ten minutes to seven. I needed to hurry.

I slipped on my dress and sauntered into the main room.

Kren rubbed at his eyes and yawned as he sat up. His hair stuck up at odd angles as he got to his feet and stretched. He scratched himself.

He didn't seem to mind being naked with a stranger present.

Then again, he fought wearing only shorts, and I was only wearing a sheer dress.

What made me so high and mighty?

"Morning," he said.

"Good morning."

His muscles were taut even when he got up first thing in the morning.

Surely there should be a law against looking so good when you first get up?

"It's, uh, almost seven," I said, trying in vain to keep my eyes off his immaculate body.

He turned to look at the clock.

"I slept in! I never oversleep!"

"It must have been our scintillating conversation last night."

He grinned at me and I looked right back.

The moment lasted a lot longer than it should have and I tore my eyes away from his.

"I, uh, had a nice time."

"I did too."

I snorted.

"Yeah, right. You guys claim Prize Pool girls for one reason and a long night of conversation isn't it."

He approached me, still butt naked, and came up so close his… thing almost touched me.

He raised a hand to my neck and ran a thumb along my jaw.

"Not me."

That intense look on his face…

The way he touched me so delicately…

His enormous cock staring up at me…

It made my tongue swell and I couldn't get a word out.

"Ngh."

Kren frowned and flicked his inner arm. It was where we'd been injected with a device that allowed us to communicate.

"My device is acting up," he said. "It didn't translate the word ‘Ngh.'"

"Oh. Um, it means… Nothing! Nothing at all. I was just making a noise."

A fist rapped on the door. Saved by the knock!

"Looks like my ride's here," I said. "I guess I'll be seeing you around!"

I reached for the door but forgot there was no handle.

"Computer, open the door," I said.

"Negative," Computer said. "You do not have the necessary—"

"Computer," Kren said. "Open the door."

The door slid open and my smile faded.

An alien wearing blue overalls stood on the other side of the door.

"Engineer to check on the sensors," he said.

The engineer! I completely forgot about him!

And now he was standing there, looking at us.

Me flustered and Kren standing there butt naked with his… thing out!

The engineer peered between us and a smile lit his face.

"What sensors?" Kren said.

"I got a notification that I need to check on your sensors," the engineer said. "Something about a fire?"

"As you can see, there's no fire here!" I said. "You must have been sent to the wrong room!"

The engineer consulted a notebook he took from his pocket.

"Nope," he said. "Cell six."

"There's no fire here," Kren repeated.

The guard's grin turned into a smirk at our naked and semi-naked bodies.

"Maybe there was but it's been… put out."

I'd never been so mortified my entire life.

Of course, that was when the guards showed up.

"It's time for the Prize to return to the Pool," one of them said.

Why couldn't you guys have come a few minutes ago? Oh yeah, that's why. The universe hates me.

"Well, adios!" I said to Kren, saluting, and quickly ducking out of the cell.

I left him to deal with the engineer. It would only be a matter of time before he twigged what'd happened.

I shook my head. Why did these things always happen to me?

Within fifteen minutes, I was back at the Prize Pool.

Harper was there to greet me.

She waited for the guards to turn and march away before she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to one side.

"So? How was it?"

"How was what?"

Harper jammed a finger in my face.

"Now, don't you start playing that game with me! I tell you everything that happens on my dates!"

"In excruciating detail," I added. "And I never asked you to. And they're not dates."

"They're dates to me!"

I attempted to move around her but she blocked me.

"So, come on! Out with it! How did it go?"

"As if I'm going to tell you!"

"Hang on."

Harper pinched my dress between her fingers.

"It's not torn…"

"No."

"He didn't tear it off you? Didn't ravage you with his barbaric strength?"

"Nope."

Harper's mouth fell open.

"What's the matter? Is there something wrong with him?"

Okay, so that pissed me off.

It was one thing to keep trying to get the information out of me. It was another to say there was something wrong with Kren.

"There's nothing wrong with him," I snapped. "He's a gentleman."

Harper snorted.

"Girl, please. I've been with dozens of fighters and not one of them treats me as more than a piece of meat."

I got the feeling that was how she liked it.

"Not this one," I said with a smile.

I moved around her and headed for the dorm we shared in the back.

I approached my lumpy bed and removed my dress. I tossed it in the laundry basket and moved to the long set of wardrobes at the back.

The girls shared clothes. The more senior members—the ones most often picked by the fighters—got first dibs.

I was at the bottom of the ladder and always chose last.

There were two wardrobes. One for when we had to dress up for the fighters. They were small, sheer material, and sexy, or slutty, depending on how you wanted to look at it. The second wardrobe contained everyday clothes. I much preferred the latter.

I chose a pair of jeans—they weren't really jeans but they were close enough—and a T-shirt with an alien band on the front that I'd never heard of.

"So, it's true?" Harper said with a thoughtful frown.

She made me jump. I didn't hear her approach from behind.

Harper folded her arms and wore a conspiratorial look.

"What's true?" I said.

"Kren. He's a monk."

"Huh?"

"The other fighters talk about him. They talk a lot after they get what they want from me. They said the reason he fights as well as he does is because he never takes a girl. He took you last night and he still doesn't have sex with you. He's a monk."

Some of the other girls were too close for my liking.

"Sh!" I said, grabbing Harper's arm and dragging her to one side. "I don't want everyone to know."

"Why not?"

"It might be against the rules or something."

"Nothing is against the rules. Trust me."

For the first time since I'd met her, Harper had a look of sadness about her as if she'd experienced something she would rather forget.

"He's not a monk," I said.

Although, in all honesty, did I really know that?

Yes. Because he touched me when I showed him my body.

And if he'd taken a vow of celibacy, he never would have chosen me in the first place.

"He's just taking his time, that's all."

I wasn't worried. I was glad he didn't jump into me the first chance he got. I mean, it was going to happen eventually anyway, right?

We might not have done it the first time we met, but that didn't mean we wouldn't do it the second time.

If there was a second time.

Had I blown it with him already?

I didn't give him what he wanted, so maybe he was already bored and would choose one of the others next time.

I should have been glad. I didn't want to have sex with a random alien dude.

But did I want to risk losing him to someone else?

Would being with him have protected me from the other fighters?

Had I made a huge mistake?

"Ivy?"

I turned to find Lily with her hands on her hips.

"You're wanted upstairs," she said.

I glanced over her shoulder at the pair of armed guards standing at the doorway behind her.

"Upstairs?"

"The Supervisor," Lily said, glaring at me as if she knew I'd done something wrong. "He wants to see you. Now."

The Supervisor'sapartment was located up a winding staircase. With my new ensemble of regular clothing, I didn't get so much attention from the horny prisoners.

I was taken aback by how large this prison was. I passed the workout station where huge aliens lifted weights. They stared at me as I continued up the stairs while they counted out their bicep curls.

Out a window, the landscape shifted as I scaled each set of stairs. It revealed the true scale of the moon outside.

I'd always been indoors and hadn't seen the outside world since I arrived.

This world was tinted red like Mars and a white sun blazed with a harsh yellow edge.

It didn't look like the most hospitable place in the cosmos.

But what did I know? It could have been the Barbados of the galaxy for all I knew.

And they always chose the best locations for prisons, I thought…

Yeah. Right.

The mountains in the distance were sharp and stabbed at the sky unlike anything on Earth. These were not mountains you climbed in your spare time. They were the color of dried blood and the rolling dunes spoke of a place that was never meant to be escaped or journeyed over.

The perfect place to build a prison.

Even if the prisoners escaped, how were they meant to get anywhere and do harm to locals?

They couldn't. No one lived here.

And if there was no access to a spaceship, you stood no chance of surviving for long.

We came to a large laboratory with shiny white walls and scientists going about their business.

A large window that looked out on the fighting pit. A pair were fighting now. On half a dozen monitors, figures danced around each other armed with vicious weapons. The machines blinked and whirred, taking readings that made no sense to me.

I followed the guards up a final set of stairs to an office that perched above the science lab.

A guard knocked on the door and a voice called out:

"Come."

The guards stood on either side of the door with their shock rifles clutched to their chests.

"Should I go in?" I said.

Neither guard said a word or motioned for me to enter.

I watched them closely as I pushed the handle down and the door squealed open.

The guards made no move to prevent me from heading inside. I guess it was okay to enter.

Inside, a lone figure wearing a long white jacket bent over a microscope. He raised a hand for me to join him.

"Come look at this."

Okay… so this wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

The Supervisor could have passed for human except his limbs were all a little too long as if he'd been put in a torture device and stretched.

I shut the door quietly behind me and crossed the space toward him.

It wasn't just an office, although the majority of the space was taken up with his large desk and papers perched along its edge.

Here was the living space of a man obsessed with his work.

My father was the same. He was an engineer for an oil company and it was his job to run simulations of the best locations to drill for oil.

When he was given a new job, he was like a man possessed. He wouldn't come out of his room for days at a time.

Even when he kissed me and my mom on the cheeks in the morning, his mind was somewhere else.

The Supervisor moved aside for me to step in front of him.

"Go on. Have a look."

I put my eye to the microscope and peered through it.

The focus wasn't quite right for my eyes, so I turned the little toggle on the side to zoom in a little more.

What I saw was something alive but on a scale so tiny I had no idea what I was looking at.

It showed a bunch of tiny shapes that interacted with each other, then they shivered and returned to their previous position.

Then they would move off in another direction and then shiver and shift back to their original positions.

The strange thing was that when they made their initial move, it was a normal inching process along one axis, but when they moved back… It happened instantly, like teleportation.

"What am I looking at?" I said.

The Supervisor removed his glasses and carefully folded them up.

He massaged the top of his nose as if he'd been hard at work and hadn't stopped all day for a nap, a break, or even something to eat.

"It's the cells of a species called blinkers," he said. "There are stories of them in every ancient civilization throughout the galaxy. Creatures that could see into the future and decide which course of action to follow next."

"If you have their cells, I guess they must be real, huh?"

"Exactly. But we only have the sample. The creature eluded us. But we'll continue our hunt. The question is, once we have him, what will we do with him?"

"You're not going to use him to fight?"

It felt strange having this conversation with the man in charge of one of the Ikmal prisons.

Did he have anything to do with me being brought here? I wondered.

"The unique thing about the blinkers is that they can see into the future, not far mind you, about ten seconds," the Supervisor said.

"Wow."

"Indeed. Their bodies evolved to detect danger to such a degree that they can tap into God's own design. He can see each of the potential pathways and then snap back to the moment ten seconds earlier and make a decision on the best course of action. Of course, that will always be the right one."

It sounded like something from the X-Men, I thought. But something about the ability confused me.

"If he can see in the future like that, how do you intend on catching him?"

The Supervisor smiled warmly.

"Very good question! The answer is: with great difficulty. There are various weaknesses with his ability. He can't see anything when he's asleep, for instance, so if you put something in his coffee that won't take effect for thirty seconds or more, you can catch him easily. The blinkers are an exceptionally rare species. He might be the only one in the entire galaxy for all we know, and it's our duty to ensure his species doesn't die with him. Do you agree?"

"I guess so."

"Excellent. How about we take a seat?"

He led me toward a pair of short sofas that faced each other.

The Supervisor hurried to pick up a stack of papers and dump them on a side table.

"Please. Take a seat."

I did. I glanced out the window at the landscape beyond. It wasn't much different from the view I saw earlier.

Save for one crucial difference:

An arm extended out from the side of the building that led from the next room in the Supervisor's quarters.

On the arm sat a vehicle.

I'd never seen anything like it before but I would recognize it anywhere.

A shuttlecraft.

The Supervisor noticed me looking at it and turned back to me.

"Are you a fan of shuttlecraft?" he said.

My mouth turned dry.

You could say that, I thought. I'm interested in them getting me the hell out of here and back home.

I had all the ingredients I needed to make a break for it.

On a series of long shelves sat a bunch of items from various cultures.

The skull of a small creature. A hooked nail. A horn. Rocks that glinted in the semi-darkness.

Any one of which could be used as a weapon to knock the Supervisor to the floor.

Then I could run to the backroom, climb aboard the shuttlecraft, and command it to fly me home.

The guards were just outside the door but they weren't close enough to catch me… especially if I hit the Supervisor hard enough across the head so he couldn't shout for help.

Could I do it? Did I want to do it?

You bet I did.

But I didn't.

What if I needed some form of identification like I did in Kren's room?

What if I didn't have the right voice or the right fingerprint or whatever these things needed to get me the hell out of here?

And if I made the attempt to escape now, I might never get another chance in the future.

Much better for me to develop a relationship with the Supervisor and learn the details of what I'd need to escape.

The Supervisor was still waiting for a response.

"We don't have shuttlecraft like that on our planet," I said tearing my eyes from it. "It looks very futuristic, like something from our movies."

So close to escaping and yet so far.

One day,I promised myself. One day.

The Supervisor leaned back and rested a spindly arm on the back of the sofa.

"I understand you've met our most famous resident."

He could have been referring to Harper but surely even she couldn't have been chosen by that many prisoners during her time here.

He must have been referring to Kren.

"Yes," I said. "He chose me yesterday."

"Quite remarkable. Especially when one considers he's never chosen any of the Prizes before. Why do you think he chose you?"

I'd been asking myself that same question ever since he peered at me with those golden eyes of his.

"I don't know."

"Besides the fact you're beautiful and smart, of course," the Supervisor said, smiling at me. "Seriously. Why do you think he chose you?"

I threw up my hands.

"I don't know. Because I'm new?"

The Supervisor nodded as if he had been expecting that response but didn't buy it.

"Did you know he's the last of his kind?"

I blinked.

"He is?"

"He came to us when he was very young. His species was wiped out in a war and they never recovered. It's not something he likes to talk about. His parents were crossing borders with weapons they meant to deliver to the rebellion but they got caught. They were sent here to serve their jail terms.

"His father was sent to the fighting pits and died during an unfortunate incident. His mother contracted a terrible disease and died a few weeks later. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with him, so I took him under my wing. I nurtured him, educated him… but he couldn't take his eyes off the fighting pits.

"It's what his species likes to do, traditionally. He turned out to have quite a knack for it. I discouraged him from following his baser instincts but there's no talking to him when he gets an idea in his mind. He has a lot of aggression.

"I've tried talking with him about it but he prefers to release his stress with his fists. I don't know what demons he has but they're powerful. So, he went and he fought… and now he refuses to leave.

"This prison is all he's ever known and until very recently, I never thought he would reach out to another person and try to make contact. He did. And that person turned out to be you."

I had no idea of Kren's painful past. I thought he was just a big dumb lug but there was so much more to him than that.

A tragic past.

My heart went out to him.

Given his story, it's no surprise he liked talking with me. He never usually talked with anyone.

"Normally, I would let him do as he pleases," the Supervisor said, although he didn't look particularly happy about that. "It's his life, after all. But then I think about how his father died. An unfortunate accident that ended his life. Kren is the last of his species and that's why I thought…"

He looked at me and the words died on his lips.

He shook his head.

"You know, sometimes an idea sounds fine in your head but when you try to put it into words… it sounds ridiculous."

He got to his feet.

"No. Forget it. It was a mistake to ask you to come here."

He extended a spindly hand to me.

"I believe a handshake is how you say goodbye to your species?"

I looked at his hand but didn't take it.

"What was the idea?"

He lowered his hand and his smile fell with it.

"It's outrageous. As a scientist, sometimes we get excited by our ideas and… It's dumb. I'll find some other way."

"Other way to do what?"

The Supervisor looked me over and searched my face.

He must have found something he liked or respected there because he leaned forward and spoke with his hands.

"To save his species," he said meaningfully. "There's so much more we need to study and learn about him. He could hold great secrets that might open the door to new science and discoveries, much like the blinkers."

"How can you save his species? He's the last of his kind."

The Supervisor nodded.

"He is. But not if he were to have offspring."

I let his words wash over me.

Offspring? But that meant mating. That meant sex. That meant children.

And he was asking me.

My lips felt numb.

"Kren is the very last of his species and I want to bring his species back," the Supervisor said. "Maybe if he had something else to live for, it might encourage him to leave this place. If he mated with a female, his species could be saved."

I sensed what he was saying but I couldn't bring myself to formulate it in my mind.

"What I'm suggesting is, you allow him to impregnate you," the Supervisor said. "You bear his offspring and we'll see if we can create a large enough population with other females to kickstart his species once more."

He just sat there.

I blinked, staring back at him.

"What?"

"I told you it was crazy."

"You want me to be a mother?"

"No, not a mother. A surrogate."

Was this guy crazy? I should have left when he said it was a crazy idea.

"I'm sorry," he said, raising his hands. "I thought it was worth a shot, that's all. I didn't mean any disrespect. I just thought… Never mind. I'm sorry for wasting your time. If you'll follow the guards, they'll return you to the Pool."

The Pool.

That was where I would return.

That was where I would end up.

And who knew where I would go after that.

"Guards," the Supervisor said.

The door opened and they stepped inside the room.

"Please take Ivy back to the Prize Pool," he said.

He looked at me again.

"Once again, I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect."

"Have you done this kind of thing before? Surrogates?"

"No."

"Why now?"

"Because Kren has never shown much interest in the Prizes before. I didn't think it was an option. But now, we have you."

My head was fuzzy and I found it difficult to concentrate.

"Why do you care?"

"Because no scientist likes to see a creature become extinct. Especially when it's within our power to prevent it. I've watched Kren grow into a strong young man. But he's lost his way. If I could give him a family to replace the one he'd lost… To give him a future… He might not need to fight so much in the pits. Maybe he could have a new life somewhere among the stars."

The guards reached for my arm to pull me up onto my feet.

The Supervisor raised a hand for the guards to wait.

"If I did this…" I said, and I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth. "If I was a surrogate for his child, I… I would want something in return."

"Payment? I don't have a lot of money but—"

"Not money. I want to go home."

"Home?"

"To Earth. I want you to send me back so I can forget this whole thing ever happened."

"Of course. I can arrange that. Are you sure you can do this? I understand if you can't."

Here was the truth of the matter:

I was going to be forced to have sex with one or more of these creatures over and over again.

I would get nothing out of it. Except a lot of pain.

At least this way I had some control over the situation.

There was at least a chance I could get out of there without having my life ruined.

It was far from ideal but what other choice did I have?

Besides, if kept close to the Supervisor, if I learned more about how the shuttlecraft worked, maybe I could rescue myself from the situation and never have to look back ever again.

"Yes," I said. "Yes, I'll do it."

"That's excellent news! I'll prepare the necessary equipment for childbirth. I can't tell you what this means to me, what it will mean to Kren and his species."

"Sure," I said, my voice numb.

"Return to the Pool," the Supervisor said, getting to his feet with surprising energy. "He'll be fighting soon and he'll choose you as his Prize again."

"Okay," I said in a voice that didn't sound like my own.

I turned and approached the guards.

My feet didn't feel like they touched the ground.

"Oh, there's one other thing!" the Supervisor said, jogging over to catch up to me. "Kren can't know what we're doing. Not yet."

"Why not?"

"Because of the way he is. He can be difficult. Under normal circumstances, I would let him decide for himself but we're talking about an entire species here, not just one person. He has a duty to carry on his parents' legacy."

I had thought it would be a clinical process, with Kren supplying the sperm and me the eggs.

"So, how am I supposed to get him to impregnate me?"

The answer popped into my head the moment the question was out of my mouth.

"I'm sure you're well aware of how it's done," the Supervisor said.

Despite my best intentions, I couldn't keep the blush off my face.

I did have experience but never with an intergalactic alien!

"You'd best be getting back to the Pool," the Supervisor said. "Kren will be finishing his fight soon."

He bent over the microscope and fiddled with the toggle.

The guards led me to the door.

I was still a little dazed from the agreement I'd made.

A question kept nudging at me and wouldn't leave off until it got an answer.

"What makes you so sure he'll choose me again?" I said. "It might have been a one-time thing."

The Supervisor looked up from his microscope.

"Because most of us aren't like the blinkers. Where they might act unpredictably, the rest of us are very predictable. The best answer I can give you is this: I've met you. He'll return for sure."

"What didthe Supervisor speak with you about?" Harper asked the moment I returned to our shared quarters.

"Just some… stuff."

I was still distracted and for obvious reasons.

Did I really want to do this?

Did I really want to rent my womb out for a return trip home?

It wasn't about what I wanted, I decided. It was about what I needed.

And it wasn't like I was doing this for selfish reasons.

An entire alien species hung in the balance.

How many women got to claim they were responsible for mothering an alien species?

It would definitely catch the eye of anyone who read my resume.

But maybe the Supervisor was wrong and Kren wouldn't be interested in me.

Maybe he would pick Harper and have a great time with her instead of her frigid friend.

And if he chose me again?

Then I would let nature take its course and one thing would lead to another and another…

The bell rang and the girls hurried to get dressed and ready for the next fighter to claim his Prize.

Kren's image flashed up on the monitor.

It was him. He was coming.

I gulped.

I wore the same style of sheer dress as the night before.

Hopefully, it would remind him of the time we spent together and he would want a repeat…

Only this time with the X-rated parts kept in.

We lined up on the dais and waited for the Beast to turn up.

The guards led him down the tunnel. He nipped at their heels faster than he did yesterday.

Lily rose to meet him at the entrance.

"Kren. May I introduce to you—"

He didn't even stop and marched right into the room.

Lily had to hurry to catch up.

Kren didn't have a scratch on him. Only his boots were lightly dusted.

He marched up to the dais and stood before me.

"How about we have a replay of last night?"

I couldn't help but smile, even if I now had a secret.

"I'd love to."

The other girls groaned as he took me by the hand.

"One thing before we go," he said.

"What?"

"Go change. I don't want the other fighters ogling you. Tonight, you're mine. And only mine."

I gulped.

I was his.

And his seed would be mine.

I nodded and approached the back room where I could change.

The other girls were furious.

I loved it.