Alien Assignment

Mostly, I remember floating.

There was a cool rush around me, and that was what prompted me to open my eyes. When I realized I was no longer in my bed, but instead was suspended in the air above my quiet, suburban street, the first thing I felt was not panic.

Mostly, I thought everything was a dream. Mostly, I thought it was unreal.

But when the flashes of light started coming closer to my face, something inside me snapped. Fear gripped me, and I covered my eyes to shield them from the red beams.

My dark hair dangled underneath me. What was keeping me up? How was this possible?

Slowly, I started to rise. A loud mechanical sound filled the space around me. It was all I could hear. Higher and higher I started to move, closer to the noise and the lights, and then an odd hum took over. It spilled into my ears, thick and overwhelming. I tried to block out the sound with my hands, but it was too loud.

I had just opened my mouth to scream when some sort of mask was placed over my lips and nose. I inhaled, despite my better judgment, and the bitterness filled my lungs.

Then there was just darkness.

**

Three Years Later

I slid slowly off the top bunk, my bare feet landing on the floor with a soft thud. When I glanced over at Sam, she was still sound asleep, her strawberry blonde hair splayed out around her face.

She was lucky she got to sleep in. I was on the early shift at the cafeteria for the foreseeable future. It was all thanks to an unfortunate incident at my previous work out on the quad, involving a poorly timed nap, a fresh litter of pexidons, and an unlocked cage.

I shimmied into my pale green jumpsuit, slicked my hair back into a bun, and covered my head with the hairnet. It was not the most flattering ensemble, but I kept reminding myself that it could be worse. I COULD be in janitorial services, scrubbing latrines and floors.

Our living quarters were on the fourth floor of the station. Normally, I'd take the stairs to work, allowing me a chance to peek out through the huge windows on each level. But I was already a couple minutes behind schedule, and I couldn't be late.

I got into the elevator and made my way down to the bottom floor where the cafeteria and rec rooms were. My coworker, Dina, was already in the kitchen, along with the droids who prepared most of the actual food.

"Morning, Lily," said Dina, sounding wearier than usual.

The cafeteria (or food station, as the aliens called it) was a huge stainless-steel room, with massive windows overlooking the quad. Long tables filled the space, which was currently empty and quiet but would soon be chaos.

"You ready?" Dina asked, handing me over a stack of napkins and a big bin of cutlery.

We headed into the seating area and set the tables and buffet. It was no secret that these tasks could easily be completed by droids. It wasn't like Zonis didn't have enough resources to bring in more.

Not that I should have been begging to have my job taken away. I saw what happened to the other humans who became redundant. They got taken to the Outer, probably to do hard labor for next to no coins.

No, I had it pretty easy here, in comparison.

"What's wrong?" I asked Dina. We were back in the kitchen now, preparing the buffet station with the food that the droids were now serving up. "You seem off."

"Homesick. Can you believe I've been here five whole years? Chicago seems like a distant memory." She gave me a weak smile. At 40 years old, Dina was about a decade older than me, but honestly, she seemed much older. That's what happens when you're abducted by aliens who take you back to their home planet to work and live a slow, monotonous life among creatures both dangerous and strange.

"I heard that Victoria smuggled some entertainment modules from one of the rec rooms," I said conspiratorially, leaning in with a smile on my face. "Maybe we can get her to share with us tonight. Could be fun. Do you still have that bottle of Moxie?"

Dina bit her bottom lip and looked around to make sure the droids weren't listening. "My cell, seven o'clock."

The sky was hazy and orange by the time everyone began filtering into the cafeteria. The smell of cooked meat and green rixweed filled the air, along with the pungent odor of artificial eggs. I found it completely nauseating, but the aliens seemed to love it.

Our station was one of the few on Corinox. Most of the planet was uninhabitable, thanks to a widespread fungus. Several small towns were spread out on the eastern hemisphere, and those areas tapered off into the Outer, which was a circle of forest and farmland dividing the cities from the decaying fungal zones.

Corinox was mostly an industrial planet, and it was mostly male. Our station only housed male aliens, while the other two stations contained a mix, although the ratio was still unbalanced.

I watched the males dig into their breakfasts, their teeth gnashing into the meat, spit flying from their mouths. The energy, as usual, was aggressive, hostile, and horny. The males often leered at Dina and I or made rude gestures as we passed.

"That one right there tried to grab my ass the other day," said Dina, nodding to one of the orange-skinned aliens seated at the table closest to the buffet. "Fucking pervert."

"Don't you know? We're the kitchen helpers AND the entertainment." I rolled my eyes.

The station was home to several breeds of aliens, although the most common were the Barbonis (the aggressive, orange-skinned males) and the Omikins (the gentler, teal-skinned males.) I had experienced my fair share of groping and touching since coming to Corinox, and it was something I had come to accept by this point.

"Ladies, ladies," said a silky-smooth voice suddenly appearing in the kitchen. "How goes the kitchen?"

Dina and I both turned to face Zonis, the station president. He was a few years older than Dina, a slender man with sleek dark hair and blue skin pocked in glittery scales. His eyes were all one color--two orbs an eerie shade of icy gray that made me think of winter. A language box was attached to the front of his robes, a small device that allowed his native alien tongue to translate to English as he spoke.

"At 11:00, I'll be giving a station tour to a business owner from Prim. He's looking to make some investments, so I need everything to be immaculate. Is that clear?"

As if to prove his point, Zonis ran his finger over the lipped edge of the prep table, finding it covered in a thin layer of grime.

"I wish you'd told us sooner," mumbled Dina, looking around the kitchen.

Zonis closed the space between him and her in a few steps and took Dina by the chin. His long, scaly fingers held her face straight-on as he sneered at her.

"When the station has been handed over to our investors and they begin replacing all of you disgusting humans with droids, I'll make sure you're the first to go."

My heart sank to my stomach. I had known this was coming. There was no reason to keep us humans around when droids were more efficient and required less space and upkeep. I had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason Zonis even staffed humans at this point was so the aliens could fuck us whenever they wanted.

I'd heard rumors around the station that this happened, although I had never witnessed it myself. But Sam had said that a girl she worked with in the aviary had been pulled aside for a week of sexual services with a particularly brutal and angry Barbonis.

After Zonis left the kitchen, I was horrified to see that Dina was crying. Thick tears slowly slid down her freckled cheeks. I could tell that this place had broken her.

"I used to be something, you know?" she sniffed. "Did you know I had a baby?"

All the color drained from my face. Dina was normally a private person, so I didn't know much about her. "No," I said quietly. "That's... that's awful, Dina. I'm so sorry."

"Why do you think they took us?" She looked at me with her watery blue eyes. "Why were we selected? I just want answers. I think that's the hardest part."

I had thought about this quite a lot since my abduction and had never found out why. Part of me didn't want to know. It all felt so sinister, and I liked keeping hold of whatever ignorance I could.

I didn't have any time to comfort Dina, because we had to get to work cleaning up after the breakfast rush. The males had hurried off to their jobs, and Dina and I had to cart all the dishes to the industrial dishwasher. But it was not sized correctly for the number of plates we served at meals, meaning Dina and I had to wash a lot of them by hand.

We worked tirelessly, making the kitchen as pristine as we could for our guests.

Then, at exactly 11:00 a.m., Zonis burst into the cafeteria, followed by two suited alien males. I had never seen males quite like them, with two short stumps on their head in place of horns or antenna. Their eyes took up a massive space on their rounded faces. Their skin was a strange fleshy color that could have been almost humanlike were it not for the glossy sheen that gave them the appearance of being wet.

Dina and I kept busy in the kitchen, watching as Zonis gave them the grand tour.

"And this is our kitchen staff at the moment, Dina and Lily." Zonis held out his hand as the two guests looked at us with their bulging eyes. "As you can see, we also have two droids who prepare all the food."

"We will certainly need to get our hands on more than two," said one flesh-toned alien to the other.

I grabbed a rag and began to scrub one of the stainless-steel countertops, listening as the three males talked in hushed voices. I swore I overheard them say something about "elimination." Were they talking about us? About the humans?

I must not have been paying attention, because suddenly, my arm slipped, causing a pile of trays to clatter to the floor. Several of them landed on the feet of one of the fleshy guys.

Zonis's eyes began to bore into me. I could see the anger forming on his lips, which had pulled into a straight, stiff line.

"Lily," Zonis said, his voice eerily calm. "Please apologize to Feralt."

"I'm so sorry." My voice was hushed as I looked at the alien. His chest was puffed up, and it was a scary sight.

"Zonis, let's just continue, shall we? I think we've seen enough," said the other alien, much to my relief.

I watched as they left the kitchen, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to be the end of hearing about my screwup.

Dina gave me a sympathetic look and squeezed my arm. "I'm sure it will be okay."

I bit my bottom lip and picked up the trays, tossing them into the sink. "Yeah. Maybe."

I held onto a little bit of hope for the rest of the day. I headed to Dina's cell at 7:00 and found her alone.

"Where is your cellmate?"

"Gone." Dina screwed off the cap to the bottle of Moxie in her hand and took a big swig. "Fired."

I could feel the color drain from my face. Dina passed me the bottle of Moxie, and I downed a gulp. The bitter liquid was thick and viscous but warmed me almost instantly.

"That sucks," I said finally. "I'm sorry for her."

Dina and I sat on her bed, which was the bottom bunk. Her cell was identical to mine: a windowless, tiny room with two beds, a built-in desk, and a toilet behind a small, sliding door. A light sizzled and snapped above us, another similarity to my room.

"It feels like it's going to be happening to all of us now, especially if the station gets sold." Dina took another swig. "I swear, I'm not going to make it if I get sent to the Outer. I'd rather die."

"You don't mean that."

"I really do, Lily. Do you know what it's like out there?"

I shook my head. "No. Do I want to know?"

Dina took a big swig of Moxie. "Well, this is just rumors, of course, but I heard the living conditions are terrible. It's all these old, rundown shacks, and everyone is crammed in there together. People are forced into over ten hours of hard labor a day. They've got to tend to the land, the forest, and the animals. The sole purpose is to keep the Outer in good condition and make it so the fungus cannot spread. I don't know about you, but I want no part of that."

It hit me then how little I knew about Corinox, even though it had been my home for years now. Not to mention the galaxy in general. There was so much unknown.

Dina began to do my hair, wrapping it into a long, dark braid. We shared the bottle of Moxie until Dina said she was ready for bed. It was only 8:00, but I could tell she was exhausted. Maybe 'depressed' was a better way to describe it.

"Goodnight, Dina," I said, helping to tuck her into bed. "See you in the morning, okay?"

The Moxie had made me pretty loopy and sluggish. I headed into the hall, walked to the end of it, and then into the stairwell. I looked out at the quad, at the lush orange-red ground. I hated how beautiful I found it here sometimes. I often had to remind myself that I had been abducted. It felt like a betrayal of my trauma to enjoy the view. But at the same time, I needed to allow myself these moments of joy and appreciation.

I held onto that thought as I crawled into bed that night, letting my heavy limbs sink against the thin mattress.

**

The next morning, I was woken up by the news that Zonis wanted to see me. Instantly, I knew what it was about. I knew I was about to be sent to the Outer.

I was escorted into Zonis's office by his assistant. I had never been there before, and the sheer size of the space astounded me. Zonis lived and worked in luxury, that much was clear. The room was a sea of lush green and metallics. Golden, glittering lights hung above the desk, their soft shape morphing into various abstract forms as though made of putty.

"Sit," said Zonis, pointing at the chair opposite his desk.

I placed my hands in my lap and played the part of the mild, apologetic girl. It was my best shot at getting back on Zonis's good side. I batted my eyelashes a few times too, and the feminist in me cringed.

"Lily, your behavior yesterday was appalling." Zonis's icy eyes looked into mine. "To drop kitchen trays onto the feet of our esteemed guests was unforgivable. It's clear I cannot trust you with even the simplest of jobs."

I felt a rush of heat surge inside me. I used to be something. I used to work for the city's biggest library. I used to love my job, and I was damn good at it.

"I can only apologize, sir," I muttered. "I don't know what came over me. Perhaps it was nerves."

Zonis waved his hand annoyingly in the air. "That. Doesn't. Matter. Enough is enough. I've tolerated your behavior for far too long. So starting today, you'll be assigned a Barbonis male to pleasure and serve."

I gaped at him. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean, some of these males need release. They aren't good workers for me if they're boiling over with pent-up sexual frustration. You'll live with him, sleep with him, and serve him sexually."

"What's the alternative?" I said, tears stinging my eyes.

"You'll be sent to the Outer. And Lily, I really don't think you'll last out there." Zonis chuckled. "It's clear you are useless at hard labor, or any labor, really. You should be lucky at this new assignment. You simply must lie there. Do you think you can handle that? Do you think you can lie there?"

I nodded, because I didn't know what else to do. My instinct was to lunge across the desk and shove my thumbs in Zonis's eyes, but I knew I'd be dead before I got that far.

"Go," said Zonis, turning his attention to the tech pad on his desk. "Rengir will show you to your new cell."

One of his assistants grabbed me by the arm and roughly led me out of the office.

The next hour was a blur. I was sent back to my living quarters to gather my things, unable to say goodbye to Sam or Dina. Rengir watched as I packed, nudging me with his foot to hurry me up.

I was then led up to the top floor of the station and sent through a shower. It wasn't the private showers I had been used to. This was a big glass room with robotic arms attached to each wall. I was stripped down and pushed inside, while the alien watched through the glass. He snarled in delight as the robot arms scrubbed my naked body from head to toe with fragrant, fruity soap. It reminded me of cheap candles back on Earth.

Once I was sufficiently cleaned, my skin scrubbed nearly raw, I was given a thin white gown to wear. There was no underwear. It was practically see-through. I pulled it on over my head, letting the material fall to mid-thigh. It was humiliating.

"Come," said Rengir. "Let me introduce you to Keldin."

We walked down a long, brightly lit hallway surrounded by doors. It almost felt like a prison, and I wondered what these living quarters looked like. If they were as small as mine, I had no idea how I was supposed to live with an alien who was at least a foot and a half taller than me.

My stomach was in knots by the time we stopped at the very last door. Rengir knocked three times, hard, and the door slowly opened.

"What?" spat a voice from the darkness.

"Lose the tone, Keldin. I brought you a gift."

Rengir pushed me closer to the door, which opened further to reveal a scowling, burnt orange alien. His face was angled and sharp, with defined jawbones and cheekbones. He had several scars over his neck and on one cheek.

All Barbonis looked pretty similar, with varying shades of eye and hair color. Keldin's eyes were a deep amber, with an intensity that felt palpable. He had dark, thick hair, from which grew two curved, pale orange horns lined with gray ridges.

"A human," he muttered, eyeing me up and down.

I realized then how large he really was, not just in height, but in muscle. He only wore a pair of dark pants, so I could see every inch of his toned chest and stomach. My eyes fell on his muscular, thick arms, which featured several tattoos along the triceps. It was an alien text that I couldn't understand.

"For your needs." Rengir handed over a piece of paper, detailing what I was sure contained all the sordid details about my new job. "You have the day off to break her in. We'll bring her things by tonight."

Keldin scowled at me. "This will do. Thank you."

Rengir nodded and then he was gone. I felt another wave of nerves and nausea. I couldn't believe this was really happening. I would have given anything to be in the kitchen right now, prepping for breakfast with Dina.

Keldin opened the door wide and stretched out his arm, a wordless invite to enter. I did so tentatively, unsure how to act. The Barbonis were known to be aggressive and short-tempered. I didn't want to anger him.

"What is your name?"

"Lily." I noticed that he wasn't wearing a language box. "You speak English?" That was really rare.

Keldin grunted. His golden eyes looked deep into my green ones, and it was the most intimidating stare I'd ever been on the receiving end of. My whole body felt like it was on fire.

"Your new home," said Keldin. "I guess I should give you the tour."

He pointed out each feature with one word--Bed. Wardrobe. Window. Toilet. Desk.

The space was actually quite nice, although it was cold and sterile. I hadn't expected to see art hanging on the walls, but still. The walls were a steely gray, and the window was blocked by a dark shade. What did this guy have against natural light?

"It's nice," I said. "Bigger than where I came from."

The bed, though not a bunk since the room was a single, was still the same small size. It was similar to an extra-long twin bed on Earth. I felt sick thinking about being curled up against this stranger.

Let alone everything else that could and would happen.

Keldin sat on the edge of the bed, and I awkwardly stood in the middle of the room, arms wrapped around myself. His hands opened up the piece of paper once more, scanning it. His hands, like everything else, were massive. They were calloused, too, and I noticed more scars over the orange skin of his forearms.