5. Ivy

"You're not pregnant," the Supervisor said.

"I know," I said, rolling my sleeve back down.

He'd just run a pregnancy test on me. It required no peeing and didn't come with smiley or sad faces. There was zero percent chance of it being wrong, he said. But I didn't need the machine to know I wasn't pregnant.

"I told you. He won't… finish inside me. He always does it in his hand. I'm not going to get pregnant if he never comes inside me, am I?"

I was flustered. I didn't know why Kren did that. I would have told him I was taking medication the same way the other girls were, but he never even asked me.

Embarrassed and unsure how to proceed, I hadn't brought it up either. I felt certain soon he would stop using his fist and the more we had sex, the more chance there was he would come inside me.

But he hadn't.

"This is… troubling. Have you discussed it with him?"

"No. I'm not sure how to bring it up with him."

"Tell him you're taking medication like the other Prize girls and you won't get pregnant."

"I'm… not sure I can do that."

"Why not?"

I rubbed my hands on my pants, my palms suddenly very sweaty.

"I don't want to lie to him."

It sounded weak and pathetic but it was the truth.

The Supervisor placed a comforting hand on my arm.

"I know it's not easy. But this is for an entire species. Surely a little sacrifice is worth that?"

I folded my arms. I felt like a complete and total failure.

I was a woman. I should be able to get pregnant. I'd never been with a man who could control himself to that degree before. Sure, they might have worn a condom but even if it split and they knew about it, they still carried on pumping away.

The shuttlecraft sat outside on its raised plinth, taunting me with its proximity.

Almost within reach.

If only I knew how to escape in it. I spoke with Kren last night about it but he said he didn't know anything about shuttlecraft. He'd never been in one. And this morning, I asked Harper, and she hadn't been in one either. But she'd heard rumors.

Rumors weren't exactly the kind of information I wanted to rest my life on. If they turned out to be wrong, I would be taken off baby maker duty and put… who knows where. Somewhere not good. I let Harper witter away but I didn't really listen to her.

"Is there a way for you to get access to his sperm after he ejaculates?" the Supervisor asked, snapping me back to reality.

"No. He washes it down the sink."

The Supervisor frowned.

"Then how are we supposed to help him save his species?"

"I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't do this anymore. Maybe we should just let him do what he wants."

The Supervisor looked at me.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

Yes, I was. Having sex with a guy to steal his little swimmers wasn't exactly the most honorable thing I'd ever done. If he was going to father a child, surely he should be allowed to have some input into whether or not the child should exist?

"An entire species is relying on us," the Supervisor said. "We must make the decision for Kren when he won't make it for himself."

"But he's going to be a father… and he won't know it. Not until it's too late."

"He won't have to take care of the child. We will. The child will never want for anything. He will usher in a new era for his species. We can return them to their former glory. It's the least we can do for them after they were eradicated."

I was touched by what the Supervisor was trying to do. It must have been hard for him to work against every scientific moral he had. You had to respect someone for doing what they knew was right.

There was a question I had itching at the back of my mind.

"Why do you let the prisoners fight like this?" I said, nodding toward the window that looked out on the pit below.

I could hear the crowd cheer. There must have been a fight taking place there now.

"I wouldn't if it were up to me," the Supervisor said, hanging his head and peering between his knees. "I'm a scientist. I'm here to research the prisoners' abilities. I try to harness it so we can improve our technology."

"Weapons?"

"Among other things. Harness it, and we can better defend ourselves against dangerous aliens."

"Like the shrale."

The Supervisor blinked at that.

"The shrale?"

"Kren told me about them. They're bad aliens, right?"

"That's right. They're the ones responsible for wiping out Kren's species."

"And this technology will help you protect yourselves against the shrale?"

"Oh, yes. Without question."

Sunlight blinked off something shiny encased in a cabinet along the back wall.

"What's that?" I said.

Behind a glass case was a suit of armor. It'd been broken apart and each section floated three inches from the others. One chest plate was tinted red and had an odd effect on it like it'd been melted. Another was frozen in a series of waves.

"That's a project I'm working on," the Supervisor said. "Armor to help save lives. I thought if I could give my species the ability to protect themselves from danger, they could put a stop to the shrale for good."

"Does the armor work?"

"Not yet, but I'm getting close. There's one piece I'm missing and I'm hoping we'll have it soon."

We sat in silence for a moment as the crowd outside roared.

The Supervisor had made so many sacrifices for his cause. It was only right I made one in return.

"I'll figure out a way to get him to impregnate me."

"How?"

"I don't know. But I'll try harder."

Although, I wasn't sure my pussy could take it much harder…

I took a deep breath and gave him a nod.

"I'll leave you to your work."

I marched from the laboratory with new confidence in my step.

I had to make Kren do his part in saving his species.

But how?

By the timeI returned to the Prize Pool, the alarm was blaring. I had to hurry to present myself to the victorious fighter.

I put on another sheer dress—this one green with yellow tassels over the nipples. It looked funny and I thought Kren would get a kick out of it.

I joined the others out front and took my place beside Harper on the dais.

"Met the Supervisor again, huh?" Harper said. "Tell me something. Are you and him…?"

She wiggled her eyebrows.

"What?" I said. "Get serious. He's an old man!"

"He's not that old."

"The answer is no. And don't start a rumor. I know what you're like."

Harper raised her hands as if she would never do such a thing.

"Moi? Besides, you want to be careful. He's a—"

"Sh!" Lily said.

Harper clamped her mouth shut and we focused on the figure walking up behind the guards.

He was big and muscular, but that hardly nailed it down. All the dudes in this place were huge.

The guards peeled to one side, revealing the fighter behind them.

My smile faded. It wasn't Kren.

It was someone else. He was bigger and taller than Kren with tusks that poked out from his upper lip. His teeth were small and brown. Probably rotten. He had a small tuft of hair on his head and blood across his armor that clanked and rattled as he crossed the space separating him from us.

Lily approached him and opened her mouth but he waved a hand dismissively.

"Dreth doesn't want to hear your sales patter, slut," he said. "Leave Dreth to choose. A victor chooses whatever he wishes."

The other girls lowered their eyes as he approached—nothing like how they looked when the other victors came by.

I followed suit and stared at the floor.

I let my mind wander and thought about the problem I had with Kren. Thinking about him brought a smile to my lips. I pictured us together last night, our bodies entwined and hot and sweaty.

He rocked me to my core. I still ached when I walked and felt him with me.

"Meager scraps," Dreth said. "Why do you dishonor me with the ugliest girls?"

"They're all fine women," Lily said. "I can assure you, every fighter has been pleasured by them many times—"

Dreth waved a hand for her to be quiet.

"Silence or I'll choose you!"

I had never seen Lily look afraid before. But there was no denying the fear in her eyes.

It was then I recalled some of the stories Harper told me when I first arrived in this place. Most of the fighters weren't aggressive. Sure, they were rough in bed just as they were rough in the ring, but they always treated the girls right. That was why the girls hadn't committed suicide already.

But there were some who were not good, and all the girls could do was hope those fighters didn't win, and when they did, pray they wouldn't be chosen.

Some of the stories were… pretty gruesome. The girls left and when they came back, they were never the same. Sometimes it was physical abuse, other times mental.

Alien creatures mated differently to what the girls were used to. Some liked to draw blood. It excited them. There had been more than a few incidents with overly aggressive victors in the past.

Dreth moved along the line and inspected the girls. He grabbed a girl at the front and squeezed her breast. She whined with pain.

"Good tits. But ugly face. Who wishes to look upon something so hideous?"

He's one to talk.

He moved along the line. He stopped in front of Harper. She was smaller than the others and usually up for anything.

But not this time. Not with this fighter.

Dreth raised her chin and grunted with satisfaction.

"Pretty. But do you have the goods, my girl?"

He pinched her small but firm breasts and her nipples turned bright red from where he'd pinched so hard. Then he reached under her dress and slipped a finger inside her. He rummaged around like he'd left his car keys inside.

Harper grunted with pain and discomfort.

"Stop that!" Dreth said. "You'll be getting a lot worse than that if I give you the honor of pleasuring me! Is that what you want? To pleasure me?"

"Stop it!" I blurted, the words out of my mouth before I even processed them.

Shit!

Why did I have to say anything? Well, it was too late now. I raised my chin and glared at him.

"Such insolence!" Dreth said, glaring at me with his tiny piggy eyes.

In them, I saw a glimmer of brutal amusement.

"Please, forgive her," Lily said. "She's new here. She doesn't know what she's doing—"

Dreth backhanded her across the face. She didn't lose her feet but she should have.

"What did I tell you about shutting up, slut?" Dreth said.

He turned back to me and reached for my nipple but I slapped his hand away. Maybe if I was "insolent" enough, he wouldn't want me.

Dreth growled and drew his hand back to slap me.

I ducked, avoiding the blow.

Blood flared in his cheeks and he brought the same hand back across, this time catching me across the cheek and knocking me to the ground.

"Sir, please," Lily said. "These girls need to be in good condition for all fighters. You shouldn't hit—"

"This one," Dreth said, referring to me. "I want this one."

Lily had never refused a fighter before but she looked on the verge of doing it this time.

"Sir, this girl…"

"Today, this girl is mine!" Dreth said.

"This girl was chosen by Kren."

That gave the fighter pause for thought. He tried to conceal his fear but failed.

I'd already seen it. So had the other girls.

"He doesn't own this girl or any of the others," Dreth said.

"No, sir," Lily said. "But he chooses her every day. And if she's not here when he returns…"

He'll beat your ass.

"You think I'm afraid of him?" Dreth said. "I'm afraid of no one! A fighter may choose any Prize he wishes. Those are the rules! And I intend on taking my Prize!"

He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to my feet. He twisted my arm so hard I thought it might snap.

Lily followed us but there was nothing she could do.

Tonight, I was his.

Time to panic.