Chapter 7

Sandy

Curse her own bleeding heart. Now, she was less interested in escaping this place.

But how was she supposed to look at that poor, broken soul and not want to help?!

Sighing, annoyed with herself, she followed demurely behind Green as he and Blue escorted her around her wing of the manor.

Good behavior had, as it tended to do, paid off. Because Sandy had not made a fuss or yelled or even resisted, she was being trusted with more freedom. News that had been brought to her this morning by Blue with the simple-

“You’re being let out around the wing.”

They were showing her the limits of that freedom. It included a nice sitting room, a home gym with some basic equipment, and a reading room. She only knew it was a reading room because Green gruffly said just that – “Reading room,” – when he opened the door to show her. It looked more like a computer room to her, as there weren’t any books, but there were a few consoles. And she was told, in similarly short, borderline irritated language – “Everything’s monitored.”

So, she guessed she could fool around online, but someone would be watching her. They had her on a short leash. Interesting.

But not particularly bothersome since, at least for the moment, she had to shelve her plan of immediately contacting the embassy for help.

Though, really, they needed some way to make emergency contact in situations like this. It seemed to be a gap in their security. But that could be addressed later.

For now, the grumpy duo finished their tour, glared at her a little bit, then left, shutting the hallway door that led into the wing. It locked loudly behind them. Her prison might have gained some square footage, but it was still a prison, make no mistake.

Turning from the door, Sandy immediately went to the reading room.

It had been two days since Rane had been forced to come see her, and she hadn’t heard a thing from him since. She definitely wasn’t getting information from the scaley boys, so she would just have to be patient some more. However, they no doubt fully expected her to take advantage of her newfound freedom, and likely expected her to look up her mate-to-be.

She would hate to disappoint, she thought to herself with a sardonic grin as she stepped inside.

She might have been told this was a reading room, and that she could use the consoles, but no one actually taught her how to operate these things. She was just lucky her grandmother wasn’t one of those types who stopped keeping up with technology in her older years, or she might really be lost.

But, not really caring if she broke anything, and certainly not concerned with whoever might be watching, she picked one of the chairs and sat down and got to work figuring it out.

It wasn’t a desk chair like she was accustomed to. It was more similar to a recliner, comfortable and able to lean back and let her relax at her leisure. The computer, attached to a swivel beside the chair, turned in towards her and adjusted based on her position without her input. Though it wasn’t a screen or a keyboard like she was used to. Instead, it was a simple panel that she tapped experimentally, hoping for a response.

And she got one. A holo display immediately opened in the air in front of her. It brought her to what she guessed was a home screen, but it wasn’t helpful enough to have files on it or anything that she would know how to click like a desktop.

However, some trial and error eventually helped her figure out how to bring up a menu of options for her to peruse and she began clicking through them one by one, trying to find the alien equivalent of the internet. She was pretty sure the information pamphlet called it a subnet, and it was promised to be universally wide. Which was astounding. The internet on Earth was already huge enough, she couldn’t imagine multiplying that by the entire universe.

It took a while for her to access it, and even longer to figure out how to make it bring her the information she wanted. It was probably very intuitive to people raised on this type of system, but it was different from the Earth way of running the internet, so she had to learn it all from scratch.

However, she did eventually manage to search for Rane el Elffa, and the results were…

Interesting.

Pursing her lips, Sandy spent the next few hours learning about a tragic case of immaturity and addiction that would have made anyone clutch their pearls. Rane el Elffa was a menace. Not necessarily to society, more to himself.

Going back years, she found tons of stories about him. ‘ Rane el Elffa Caught Stumbling Out of a Kinky Sex Club! ’ ‘ Trikballer Rane el Elffa Found Collapsed Facedown in Puddle; Rushed to Healers! Drugs Suspected! ’ ‘ Is Rane el Elffa Addicted to Amgris?! ’ ‘ Famous Trikballer Seen Posing for Celebrity Models After Big Loss! Teammates Mortified! ’

On and on and on it went, each story more salacious than the last. Not a single image, not a single video recording, did him any favors. He looked high in some, drunk in others, absolutely plastered in most. Quite a few depicted him in the arms of some female or another – and she was surprised by how uncomfortable those made her. But she pushed past the feeling to keep looking at all the bad PR this guy was getting.

There wasn’t a single good story. Nothing. Not a charity mention, not a victory celebration – though his team apparently won a lot, it was only ever his teammates highlighted in those stories. He was practically an afterthought posted on at the very end. The only time she did see wins mentioned was when the story said something like, ‘ Rane el Elffa Caught Fornicating With Entire Band After Victory Last Night! ’

Who did this guy’s press? Because they certainly weren’t a friend. It was like every single story was crafted specifically to make him look bad. More than that, it didn’t appear that any damage control had even been attempted. These stories were allowed to run wild, and not a single good, or even okay, story was there to try to combat them.

More telling to her, though, was just how often there were flashes of green and blue in every picture and every video she found.

It wasn’t typically a body shot. Green and Blue often turned their faces if there were pictures, but not always. Almost like they were trying to hide or, at least, be subtle. Not like she was likely to mistake them for anyone else, since they were the only scaley people in a greater majority of the shots.

But there were their hands, picking Rane up off the pavement, his eyes totally foggy, drooling like he was gorked out of his mind. And there they were again, dragging him out of a club, that same dazed look on his face.

It was always them. The stories never brought attention to them. They were just bodyguards, who cared what they were doing? In fact, it was expected that his bodyguards be there to get him out of bad situations.

But it was also a bodyguard’s job to protect his image, wasn’t it? It was like Rane was purposefully being dragged out the front door, no attempts made to hide his face or identity, baring him before anyone that wanted a photo or video of him at his lowest.

Sandy wasn’t one to condone behaviors such as these, but she did find it interesting just how often he was caught doing it. Just how blatant it all was. The public was eating it up, so of course tabloids and news stories kept being run, but she would think that a famous person would have some kind of team with plans in place to prevent this kind of thing – even, and especially, if they were as degenerate as these articles were suggesting.

What she also found interesting was that there wasn’t a single mention of her .

Sandy personally didn’t find herself newsworthy, and she doubted the greater majority of this planet would either. But she would think that the horniest, sloppiest, most out of control, infamous trikballer on the planet being mated would be big news, regardless of who it was to.

Yet, nothing.

Sandy was used to being a ghost, but this was a bit much.

Sitting back in her chair, crossing her arms, she thought quietly to herself as she digested all of this, staring at it all spread in front of her. A timeline of debauchery. The perfectly documented downfall of a famous male.

No. Not a downfall. It seemed like there was no height for him to fall from. It was like he had always been like this.

Trapped by his mother, he said. Sandy didn’t know the connection between what she was seeing here and how he was trapped, but it felt like too much of a coincidence for them to be unrelated. Especially with the scaley twins there, constantly dragging him around.

And role did his secret mate play in this?

***

Another three days passed.

Sandy saw no one while they passed. She was used to being inside all the time, but she wasn’t used to being alone. Her grandmother had always been there, at the very most a household away. Sometimes, they would just sit together in a room, silent but still together. Being locked away, completely alone, was a weight on the psyche that she did her best to alleviate by lingering in the reading room or trying – and failing – to use the alien gym equipment.

She was also still really hungry! The first few days with less food than she needed hadn’t been that bad, but that, too, was starting to weigh on her. With no way to get out and no way to communicate, she had no way of asking them for more food. So, she just had to go hungry.

Loneliness and hunger were heavy burdens, and she was getting close to the edge of her ability to tolerate such things. She wasn’t a skinny person, but she wouldn’t call herself big either. She had a healthy amount of fat lingering in her softer areas, but that had never bothered her. However, if things kept up, she might lose even that.

Then, one day, without warning, the doors to her bedroom – Rane’s bedroom, apparently – opened and Green walked in. He threw something on the ground.

“Get dressed. Hurry up.”

That was it. He left just like that, no further explanation, didn’t even give her a second to register what was happening, much less start making requests.

Sandy stood from where she had been sitting, looking out the window, and came to investigate what he tossed. She found a brown dress, long and shapeless with a high scoop neckline and a decorative pin on one shoulder. She looked it over for a moment before shrugging and going into her bathroom to put it on. She wasn’t going to get undressed in the bedroom. Not when those two constantly entered without warning.

The dress was surprisingly tight, especially around her hips. Sandy frowned at herself in the mirror as she turned. She recalled how slender Elffa looked and thought maybe it was a design choice that worked for telfay females, but not curvier human females.

She considered taking it off but decided not to. Though she didn’t particularly like how well this dress broadcasted her figure, she wasn’t trying to buck authority yet. So, she left it as is and returned to her room to change from her comfy orthopedic sandals into a pair of brown ankle boots that were only a few shades lighter than the dress – the nicest shoes she owned.

She was pulling her hair back into a neat chignon when the door opened again and Green stepped inside, hissing in irritation.

However, he stopped immediately upon catching sight of her. He came up short, staring with wide eyes and a partially dropped mouth. Sandy didn’t think this look was especially attractive, but she had to remember that, to aliens, humans were the sexiest species in the known galaxy. In a dress this tight, she probably looked outright obscene.

But never let it be said that she didn’t follow orders.

She clasped her hands neatly in front of her and met his burning gaze calmly. It still took him a few seconds to realize that she was waiting for him. He jerked himself out of his daze with a shake of his muzzle and an annoyed hiss. Like he was mad that she had even that much power over him.

“Let’s go,” he ordered gruffly, turning.

Blue was in the doorway, staring in very much the same way Green had, but he came back around when Green shoulder checked him as he walked past. The two males looked supremely annoyed as Sandy calmly walked between them.

She asked no further questions and got no further information – she could mention the food thing, but she doubted it would go anywhere. And she didn’t want to talk to them anyway. She was led silently out to the front to a waiting hover car. It was empty and silent as she sat down. The ratchi duo went to the pilot compartment and began flying her away to some unknown location. She still wasn’t afraid yet and wouldn’t be until she had reason.

They flew back towards the city but, again, cut around it. Flying in the opposite direction of the space port that, even from this distance, she could see was busy. If this place had a space port, then an embassy should be nearby, right? That would make sense – she hoped. She wasn’t planning on running right away, not until she figured out a bit more about what was going on, and especially not without making sure Rane was okay, but it wouldn’t hurt to think about.

She didn’t know where they were going, but they passed what appeared to be an elevated train heading in the same direction. They moved too fast for her to really see anyone inside, but it was a massive train, twice as wide as human trains, and different in design. Before she could really appreciate it, however, it was gone, and they were flying over carefully maintained fields.

Not like farming fields. They were game fields. There were people down there playing a game that looked sort of like soccer, but with less players and not isolated to feet use only. But she didn’t get a chance to look at that much either because it was also gone in an instant.

The car turned, granting her a brief glimpse of an absolutely massive stadium.

Her eyes widened as she stared at the huge building towering overhead. Like a mountain, casting a long shadow over the grassy fields. It was dark gray, trimmed with the same jade green and golden accents. She’d compare it to the Colosseum, with similar layers of archways, but the style was different, more elegant, and it was far bigger. Intimidatingly large. Something sparkled behind the walls, barely visible over the top – a dome perhaps? – but she didn’t get a chance to get a look before the hover was flying inside one of the many archways near the top.

The hover car parked inside on a small, private dock. Something closed behind them, making everything dim in comparison to the bright sun outside. Then Green was there, opening the door, allowing her to step out.

“That way,” he grunted, pointing as she looked around.

This place was nice. Not grungy or plain like a parking garage. It was fully air conditioned, with sparkling marble floors and gold and jade trim on everything. A spiral staircase at the end began moving when she stepped on it, bearing her upwards to the floor right above.

A private room, she realized, stepping off the moving steps – the ratchi duo remaining below. Not that they needed to worry, since this place was apparently closed off. The only other door here led to a private bathroom that she could see through a slight crack. Besides that, there was comfortable seating, a bar covered in food and drinks, and screens along the wall.

All of that, however, barely registered. She walked forward, jaw agape, staring out into the biggest superstructure she’d ever seen. Massive and sparkling and beautiful – completely unreal in scale and mind boggling in majesty.

One entire wall of the room was nothing but clear glass, and beyond it was the interior of a colossal stadium. She saw more private boxes, all ringing around the top. Below that, filling the middle to right above the ground floor, was seating for thousands, easily. Above the boxes, there were even more seats, stretching up towards the sky. All of them pointing inward.

In the center of the stadium, there wasn’t a field or a court or anything like that. Instead, the entire thing was taken up by what appeared to be a massive, almost liquid appearing, sphere. Four enormous metal spikes cradled it, lights sparking inside them, while a circular, mechanical bed below twisted and sparked, like a base that was holding the impossible globe in place. The outside of the sphere seemed to ripple a bit, like it was liquid, but she could tell she wasn’t looking at a huge ball of water.

There was something inside the bubble though. Floating, but not drifting anywhere, where boulders of that jade-like rock she had seen making up the majority of the buildings. Above the sphere, there was a rotating ring that was brightly lit and sparkling in time with the rest of the lights around the stadium. It was astounding. The scale of them was incredible. It was mind boggling. The kind of thing that seemed too big for reality.

“Do close your mouth. It’s uncouth.”

Sandy turned, both unsurprised and annoyed to find Elffa sitting in one of the seats. She had been so distracted by the huge stadium, by the massive sphere, she hadn’t even noticed her sitting there. Her monster-in-law-wannabe was tapping on a tablet, not looking at Sandy either.

There was someone else there too. A telfay male with pale gold skin and a bright yellow crest. He blinked at her through shockingly black eyes. He was shirtless, surprising her, but he didn’t wear any belts across his chest, only a single one at his wrist. His loose, green pants were pleated and neat. He didn’t introduce himself, and Elffa paid him no mind.

“Sit,” the telfay female ordered without pausing in what she was doing.

Sandy glanced back out the window, then looked back into the room before doing as instructed. The food was tempting, but the company was so bitter it had soured her appetite. She put a seat between herself and Elffa, ignoring the new male, and folded her hands in her lap, looking around curiously. All the screens were off, but she could hear distant music being pumped through the stadium as it was filled with tons of people.

She still didn’t know what trikball was, but she had a feeling she was about to find out.

Elffa didn’t say anything else to her and she didn’t attempt to engage in conversation. She sat there quietly, waiting with supreme patience as she wondered if this planet had knitting needles and yarn. It would be nice if she could restart her hobbies. Her grandmother told her to seek adventure, not abandon everything she loved. She could do both, she was pretty sure.

“It’s starting,” Elffa declared, lowering her pad.

This place was soundproof – cutting out the majority of the noise from the stadium – so there must have been some cue she missed, because at that moment, the entire stadium lit up. From her place in the chair near the window, she could see the entire field if she moved her head. She didn’t miss it when, from below, people began streaming in.

It was a species she didn’t recognize. They were dark, and their skin seemed to shine in the light. Their uniforms were jewel bright shades of blue and purple, swirling around them artfully as they rushed up to the unmistakable if muted jeer of the crowd.

Ah, the away team, she thought quietly to herself. She didn’t really watch sports with her grandmother, but she had been in band in high school. She’d been to all the football games. Even if she didn’t understand the rules, she recognized the energy. And this was the same.

Though, it was rather disheartening watching it with practically no sound. For as loud, and as massive, as the crowd must be, the soundproofing was extremely good. It was like she was outside the stadium and far away. She couldn’t even hear the announcer.

Overhead, a flash of light surprised her. A massive holoscreen, like a jumbotron, burst to life overhead, covering the huge sphere like a dome. And on it, she got to see close up shots of the other team as they flew through the sphere – definitely flew, because they weren’t swimming, confirming her thought that it wasn’t full of water.

As she watched, trying to figure out what was happening, the team began dancing around. Doing tricks, one at a time, near the center of the field. They were acrobatic, they were impressive, and they were beautiful thanks to their flowing clothing. Was this trikball? Was it like a gymnastics floor exercise but in 3D?

There were seven people in total. They each had a chance to show off their moves before they all descended to land in various places on the jade boulders. It seemed to be random, but she wasn’t really sure.

After they were done, the crowd began going wild. She immediately looked down and wasn’t surprised when she saw seven more people jumping up into the sphere. Only, these were all telfay males. Crests up, chests on display, decorative belts covering their arms.

Their uniform wasn’t at all the same as the other team, surprising her. Their dark brown pants were tight, and they had decorative belts around their waists. There was nothing bright about their outfits, but they themselves were shiny. She still wasn’t sure if that was oil or a trait of their skin, but they looked even more like body builders coming out on stage in the bright lights.

Especially when it was their turn to do tricks. They were posing – flexing and everything – in between their stunts. Their darker uniforms meant the bright colors of their fully displayed crests were that much more vibrant in the bright lights of the stadium.

Oh.

Sandy sat up a bit. Because that was Rane. He was the sixth male to perform, but the moment it was his turn, the crowd lost their minds. They were cheering and booing in equal measure. They loved to hate him. His face flashed onto the dome jumbotron, and the noise only got worse.

But Sandy’s heart pounded, surprising her.

She’d seen two sides of Rane already. The petty, mean drunkard – stumbling around and insulting her with impunity. And the broken, desperate male that kneeled at her feet – sobbing over a life he couldn’t control but was still desperate to save her from.

This was neither of them. And this side of him was… amazing.

His expression was hard, his eyes shining with sobriety and focus. His crest was half up, not agitated but not broken either. The blue feathers, in the blinding stadium lights, seemed to sparkle as he posed there, arms down, chest out, shoulders back. A single proud stance as he faced the laughter and cheers of those who loved to see him fail and the disgusted jeers of those who only wanted to see him fail further.

He didn’t do any tricks. He just posed once, a single, defiant stance, before he dropped back, letting the last male – one with a navy blue crest and more bronzy gold skin – do his tricks. The crowd flipped like a switch as they showered him in adoration.

After he finished, they all dropped onto the boulders. And it couldn’t be random, because they dropped perfectly spaced between the other team. All of them standing with feet spread, braced, everyone looking upward.

The only similarity between the two teams were their surprisingly weighty boots, gauntlets, and gloves. The away team wore gray with a bright, pulsing purple light running down their lengths, centered on a gem-like orb on the back of their hands, while Rane’s team was a very dark brown with a pale, beige orb that did the same. They didn’t wear anything else similar, so she had to guess those were somehow required for the game.

Above, the ring that was circling overhead flashed. First purple, then beige, then finally it settled on neutral white. Both teams tensed.

Something suddenly shot through the ring, setting off a buzzer as it descended, and the crowd went absolutely wild.

Oh, the game started, she realized, cocking her head curiously. She couldn’t help herself, she turned from what she realized now was the ball to look at Rane.

And he was so different from how she had seen him before, shooting through the sphere with impressive speed as he charged for the ball. He wasn’t swimming. His boots were propelling him. He wasn’t the only one either, someone from the opposite team was doing the same. The rest of the players were spreading out, covering each other, all but two who posted up on opposite sides of the field.

She had no idea how this game was played, or even what the point was, but she felt something like excitement and nerves rising in her belly as Rane and another other male closed in on the ball as it sank quickly.

Rane won, by a hair. He caught the ball in one hand. With the other, he punched the approaching player full in the face, sending him flying.

Sandy couldn’t help but gasp. She didn’t think he’d commit such a blatant foul like that. Maybe she was wrong about him. She expected an uproar, some kind of ref to call halt.

But… wait…

No. The game continued. Rane flew off in the opposite direction like nothing happened, while the guy he punched rolled a few times before recovering and tearing off towards the other team. No one booed or jeered that move.

It occurred to her that this game might be more brutal than she was used to. But she had to stop thinking about it, because everyone was converging on Rane. The three biggest players on the other team chased him down, as the three biggest players on his own team ran defense, and the faster guys moved around on every side.

Rane threw the ball to another guy on his team. Who flew until he was nearly caught, then he threw it back. Rane didn’t waste any time. He caught it, pivoted, and immediately threw it to the guy who had took off by himself, leading the other team on a wild chase.

The other three guys on the team had converged around him and tried to block the ball, but he suddenly shot down, putting himself in the ball’s path. He caught it and took off, everyone chasing him. And the clashes were brutal. It wasn’t just grabbing and pushing like in football. These were full on brawls, pounding each other like it was an MMA cage fight.

And Rane was… really good.

Maybe she was just looking with a novice’s eyes, but he was incredible out there. He moved quick, with confidence, and not only didn’t hesitate to land punches, but also took them like a champ. A particularly hard blow across his jaw threw him back, and the crowd cheered.

She found herself clenching her teeth, angry. They gasped and roared for the others when they were hit too, but it sounded different. It was almost like they reveled in Rane getting hurt.

But then he recovered, wiped away the blood on his lower lip, and looked back up at the one that had knocked him away, the camera zooming in on his face-

-and her heart did that thing again.

Sandy pressed a fist against her chest as she stared, breathless, at the dome jumbotron. At the way Rane’s body moved, the interplay of muscles as they clenched and pulled, while he chased down some guy on the other team.

“Oh, do stop.”

Sandy jumped, looking over. She had completely forgotten that Elffa was there. But the tall, slender female certainly hadn’t forgotten her. She looked down her small, gently sloped nose as she made a face of disgust.

“Really, it’s uncouth,” she told her primly, crossing her ankles. “You should at least act like you’ve some sense of decorum. I thought perhaps a human who dresses properly as you do would have been taught manners.”

It appeared that her wanna-be-mother-in-law didn’t like that Sandy was getting invested in Rane’s game. Which was a bit rude, if she did say so herself. She was having fun – or at least, she had been until Elffa decided to remind her of her presence.

Looking away, Sandy focused back on the game.

“Hey,” Elffa hissed. “I am speaking to you. You will respond to me.”

Sandy didn’t even look back at her this time. Rane was grappling with one of the bigger dudes on the other team and…

Sandy had never really considered herself the type of girl to be tempted by the flesh. She wouldn’t call herself asexual, per se. She’d had a longtime boyfriend in high school that ended when he went off to play baseball in college. She’d cried a bit, missed him for a while, but got over it eventually. But she’d never really been the type to seek out relationships. She certainly hadn’t cared about looks. It was more important the kind of person he was. Looks faded, after all. Her grandmother said everyone ended up wrinkly and shrunken if you gave them long enough, so basing a relationship on looks was making a relationship destined to fade just as fast.

Sandy certainly never paid particular attention to her own appearance. It would be beyond hypocritical of her to demand a jacked up, muscly, magazine worthy, gym god when she herself offered unripe grandma in terms of looks.

But Rane was creating a fire in her belly she was completely unfamiliar with. It sparked in her loins, making her mouth dry and her heart race as she saw his biceps and pecs bulging, his abdomen and thighs rippling. As she stared, he twisted, throwing some big guy off balance, then kicked, driving his knee into his side, and sending him crashing into a jade boulder. The jumbotron again got a perfect, up close view of him looking down, teeth bared, muscles jumping, skin definitely shinier.

She might not understand the rules of this game, but she couldn’t care less. It looked like Rane was winning, and that was all she cared about. Even if no one else in this city sized stadium cared about him, she wanted his success.