6 Cylene

I get up and walk to the attendant near the doors. "Any chance I can go outside? I need some fresh air."

"You're not allowed to walk the race area ahead of time, but you are welcome to take a seat in the meadow."

"Yes. I'd like that." At least if I get sick, it will be outside.

The woman calls down below and says she's sending the first racer. Behind her, the door buzzes open. She motions me toward it.

I thank her and step inside. The doors close. The floor drops, sending my stomach into my heart and making me dizzy.

When the doors open, a light breeze greets me, easing my nausea. A stone walkway weaves out into the grassy field. It's quiet. Only the faint rustle of the plants gives me any idea that I'm not simply floating in space.

A fence rises from the ground with illuminated white bars. It's only waist-high but enough to tell me where I can go and can't.

From around the corner, an older woman appears, a race gun in her hand.

"You shouldn't be nervous," she says as she preps a podium that rises in the middle of the meadow. She's figured me out in a split second. I think she's done this a few times.

I harrumph and pan the field and forest behind it for the best path as Ihna had described. I agree that running toward the mountain is likely the best idea. "You're right. I only invested everything I had into my entry fee, risked my life to get here, and am just now realizing how idiotic it was to think I could win the money and ever be free."

She pauses at this, then looks up at me. "You think these males want to own and control you?"

"That is the only thing the men in my life have ever done," I bitterly reply.

"You misunderstand the purpose of this race." She checks something on her tablet then glances up to where the dining room is. More women exit the elevator.

"What did I miss?" I ask.

"That these males are all dignitaries, engineers, soldiers, doctors, princes, and kings. They have been accepted because they have a cultural belief of equality among genders, they're of an allied solar system to Sol, and they have the capacity and desire to care for a human female. Some are aggressive, but they will not harm you."

I have no desire to have children with any male I have ever encountered. So it's either I win the money or skip town before the final bonding ceremony.

The women cluster up around the pedestal in growing numbers.

"Welcome to the Alien Bride Race," the woman announces, opening her arms wide. Cameras float in overhead, carried by nearly silent drones. I slink back until Ihna shoulder bumps me and grins.

"This year marks the eighty-ninth annual race. I started this joint operation between Earth and our galactic allies as a way to encourage positive interaction and allow species with limited numbers to have access to mates and for us to have access to better lives."

"Good grief, how old is she?" I ask Ihna.

She cants toward me. "Medical advancements are our contribution to society, remember?"

The woman continues, "Our species to all have reasons to understand and share one another's technological advances. But enough with the boring history shit! We're here to see some stacked alien bods, give them a good chase, and find out who's going to get which mate!"

A screen illuminates on the side of the building, showing the Abr program with interviews recorded from various women: thin, pretty, hair done, talking about their dream men. The feed is interrupted by a human male asking one of the women to consider him as an alternative if she doesn't like the mate that picks her.

"Aw," the young woman swoons in the crowd.

I can't help but roll my eyes and look away when Ihna taps my shoulder.

"Hey, look! It's you!"

I check the screen to see myself sitting on the bed and telling the doctor I'd rather sleep in a bed of gravel than sticks.

The screen flashes with an audience poll that comes in heavily weighted on Disagree.

I'm mortified and know now that Tathe has a darn good idea of where I am.

Ihna snorts and plants her hands on her hips. "I picked gravel, too, you twatwaffles!"

Embarrassment heats my face, and I cover my mouth.

The picture switches to a visual of a heavily guarded ship. A girl shouts in glee and points up at the sky as she bounces on her toes, making us all look.

A massive troop transport passes through the lunar shield. White static crackles over the ship as they enter our airspace.

The railings flash red. My pulse ratchets up.

Ihna motions me toward the edge of our group. "Remember what I said about the mountain?"

I nod.

"If I don't win, I hope you do." Ihna holds out a fist. "I like your plan. That's honorable."

I bump her fist with mine, even though it shakes. "Yours too."

She grins. "Just stay out of my way."

A soft laugh escapes me. "Perhaps it is you who should stay out of mine."

"That's more like it." Ihna spreads her feet as the railing switches to solid green.

We clamber over the railing and sprint for the trees. I glance back at the women who scatter in every direction. Above us, the transport hovers down from the sky. The doors open, exposing males of all colors and shapes inside.

A few don't wait for the ship to land. They leap out from an inhumanly safe height, and I know I'm in big trouble.

This is it, my make it or break it moment. I track with Ihna, see a faster path through the forest with fewer bushes and take it. I have to escape. I cannot belong to anyone else ever again.

My legs burn, and my body jolts as I scramble hard through the trees and brush and toward the mountain's rocky base. Alien males are on us fast, snatching up nearby women who laugh and shout in jubilant disorientation.

I don't understand their feeling.

I know only the fear of being hunted. And when I start my climb up the mountain of rocks and look back to see if I'm being followed, I catch a pair of vibrant blue eyes in the chaos, burning into my position.

"Shit." Shit, shit, shit!

I clamber harder and faster up the hillside. Ihna does the same.

I have been chased by animals before. I can outrun her. This was my job, hunting and, now and then, running for my life.

I can beat Ihna to the top. But deep down, I know the look in the male's eyes. I've had it myself with the chameleon, thornparrots, electric ocelots and more.

He isn't just hungry for anything.

He's targeted me.