Chapter 1

As she was lifted from where she lay, Veda felt something rough against her skin. She couldn't make out what it was, not in her current state. She couldn't even open her eyes, despite her many attempts to do so.

The movement sparked a wave of anxiety that ran through her like a jolt of electricity. Every time she became aware of what was going on around her, she felt uneasy. But now that she was being physically moved by something, she was especially scared.

The bouts of consciousness felt random and altogether unfamiliar to her. She wanted desperately to understand what was happening to her body, but it could not be explained.

Despite her eagerness to leave Earth, Veda was desperate to go back home. She thought it was likely her only chance of recovery. Whatever was happening to her body was serious. That much she knew. The fact that she could not speak, could not draw her eyes open, concerned her greatly. She was comatose and believed she had been for a very long time.

And in her current state, the only people she trusted to treat her were the doctors back on Earth. She knew nobody on this planet was capable of providing her with medical care. How could they be? They were not human. They could not comprehend human biology or human ailments.

What a bitter irony that the planet she was running away from so eagerly was her only hope now. She desperately wanted to return.

But Earth had felt like hell when she was on it. Even as Veda thought this, she knew it was an exaggeration. Earth wasn't hellish. Her life had felt hellish.

Ever since she was a little girl, Veda could remember having one desire—to be a mother. She had always wanted to have a family, even at the age of five. That may seem like a weird desire for such a young girl, but with Veda's history, it made sense.

She'd never had a family of her own. Veda had been abandoned at the young age of three. She didn't know all the details as to why, but she did vividly know the pain of being unwanted and having nobody to love or care for her.

As she aged, her hopes of becoming a part of somebody else's family faded. She didn't believe she'd ever be permanently adopted, so her only hope for a family was to have one herself when she was older. She imagined herself falling in love and marrying young.

That never happened. When she turned eighteen, she immediately had to fend for herself. She got a job, and as soon as she realized she'd never find something that paid well without a degree, she put herself through school and became a biologist.

Biology ended up being Veda's second greatest passion in life. In her worst moments, when she felt lost and alone for not having found someone to settle down with, she focused on her career. She had a passion for not only human biology but alien biology as well.

In fact, she was least interested in human biology. Other species more piqued her interest. Every species had its own way of operating. Some were very close to humans, but others were significantly different. Veda was fascinated by each and every one.

This fascination, in combination with her desire for a family, spurred Veda to become a mail-order bride. While some women might be fearful of taking such a leap, worried about what alien they'd be matched with, Veda was ready to be claimed by an alien who would love and care for her the way she had desired to be loved her whole life.

The choice to board the IGMA Tranquility had come easily to Veda. It was the one decision in her life she did not doubt. She felt no fear, no anxiety when she boarded the ship.

Now, Veda realized how foolish that truly was.

She never considered that the IGMA Tranquility might not to make it to the Nyx Station, where they were supposed to meet a connecting transport to be taken to their new spouses. It was rare that mechanical malfunctions happened on any commercial ship. Veda still didn't know what exactly went wrong on the IGMA Tranquility. All she knew was they'd had a horrifying crash landing on another planet.

Veda recalled the fear she felt when she realized something had gone horribly wrong.

Women were screaming all around her, and she could see that some of them had fallen out of their pods and were desperately trying to get back in them. Veda just barely remembered seeing the vast red desert sands before the ship came to a fiery crash.

From there, Veda was left with only confusion.

She had little memory of what happened next, barely aware enough to realize she'd been taken somewhere… but where? Not onto another ship, and not back to Earth—of that she was sure. Though she could not open her eyes, the air on her skin was dry and harsh. It felt as though she was still in some kind of desert. Someone carried her around, perhaps multiple people, but she wasn't sure why, which only made her more fearful.

At this point, she no longer cared about reaching the Nyx Station. Despite her longstanding efforts to find someone and build a family, when faced with the possibility of severe injury or death, she was happy to return to Earth and live the rest of her life single… If that meant she could live.

Though as desperate as she was to be in the hands of capable human doctors, the thought of being alone still hurt Veda. Her life was devoid of passion, excitement, love, adventure… All things she truly believed she would find on this trip.

Well, she couldn't say she hadn't found adventure. A crash landing on an unknown planet was certainly adventurous, to say the least. Veda doubted very much that this planet had ever been explored by humans. As a biologist, she was aware of all alien species currently known to humans and was familiar with their planets.

But Veda knew of no planet that would have been along their route to the Nyx Station. She certainly wasn't aware of any planets containing a large, red-sanded desert. It was the last thing she saw before the crash, so she remembered it vividly. The sand was a deep, dark red unlike anything she had ever seen before. She would certainly have remembered this ecosystem if she'd ever read about it.

Her body bounced lightly as she was once again carried somewhere. She felt her bright red hair—not dissimilar to the colors of the sands—flow back and forth with each bounce. The thick, dry air felt like it was nearly chafing her skin now. She was hot with sweat beading around her forehead. She wished she could beg for water. She wanted to be drenched in it. Nostalgic memories of jumping into the cool saltwater of the ocean flooded her mind. Why had she been so quick to dismiss Earth forever? It was surely better than whatever planet she'd landed on now. Was this atmosphere even built for human inhabitation? It hadn't feel like it.

Suddenly, Veda stopped moving, which only caused her anxiety to spike again. She hated not being able to see. Even worse was the fog of her memory and inability to focus. Any minute, she would fade from consciousness again. She could feel it. This had been happening ever since the crash. She had brief moments when she was able to think, to come back to her mind, but then she faded again. It was a weird affliction, one she was unfamiliar with, which only terrified her more.

She did not want to live like this. If the rest of her life was only going to be a shaky consciousness, she'd rather not live it. She wanted to live, more than anything, but she felt useless in her current state. She could handle not being able to speak, and she could possibly tolerate not being in control of her body… but not even being able to open her eyes? An inability to keep up with her own stream of consciousness? She truly could not handle that.

She felt her body move downward followed by a cool wetness on her feet. It wasn't water, instead feeling thick and goopy, but Veda didn't much care. It still felt nice.

Soon her calves and thighs were submerged in the wet goop, and subsequently her torso was as well. Whatever it was, it felt amazing. The heat seemed to wick away from her, and she felt like she could finally breathe.

She was able to think a little more clearly with the heat being sucked away from her and felt more alert than she had in a while. For a moment, she even tried to open her eyes, and while she thought for a second she felt a flutter, she wasn't able to accomplish it completely.

Suddenly, she heard a voice. It was deep, strange, and foreign… speaking a language she could not identify. Her relief disappeared, and her anxiety rose again. Who was this man? At least, she assumed it was a man, though she knew as a biologist she probably shouldn't assume anything. A lot of other species had females with traits that seemed traditionally masculine to humans. Still, with a voice like that, a man came to mind.

She began to question things a bit more. Why was she even in this odd, cooling gunk? Clearly, someone had carried her there, but why? Why would they submerge her in this strange substance? Was this part of some kind of alien ritual? For all Veda knew, she could have been sitting in some kind of alien marinade while they planned how best to devour her.

Veda tried to shake this thought from her mind. She was already anxious enough. No need to stress herself out further with the worst-case scenarios.

Instead, she tried to imagine the best-case scenarios. Perhaps a ship from Earth was already on its way. Maybe the aliens of this planet had reached out as soon as the ship crashed, and soon she'd be in the capable hands of human doctors who could help pull her out of whatever coma she was trapped in.

Veda doubted that this was the most likely situation. Still, it made her feel good to hope. That was all she had now since she was unable to speak to anyone or find out any information about her current state.

Now that she was able to think more easily, Veda made a conscious decision to focus on happy thoughts.

So she imagined that not only would she recover from this mess, but she would one day reach the Nyx Station and be assigned to the alien who had chosen her. She'd meet this man and his family, reside in his home, and finally receive the love she'd been fighting so hard for. This thought kept her going, kept her desire to survive strong. She needed to live so she could finally have the life she dreamed of. She wasn't going to die without ever knowing family, without ever knowing love.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when suddenly she felt someone begin to lift her out of the goo. She was confident she hadn't been in there long enough and wished to stay in the cool gunk as long as possible. Veda did not look forward to lying back down on whatever hard bed she'd been placed on before. Soon she'd be hot again, sweat would return, and her skin would dry out.

As she was carried out, Veda began to feel the fog come over her again. A tiredness washed over her, and despite her desires to stay alert, she allowed herself to drift off into an odd, dreamless sleep.