Page 1 of Barbarian Daddies

1

Cynthia

There are moments when I have a hard time remembering the life I had before my friends and I were abducted by aliens and brought to this world three years ago. Part of me still clings to the hope that I’ll make it back home someday, but said part is dying, little by little, with each passing day. I don’t mind it as much as I used to.

I’ve learned to make a new home here, and I’ve got enough reasons to stay.

This planet was embroiled in a civil war when we first got here. It still is. The plague that preceded the war has reduced the Sunnaites’ female population to figures of despair. There is a risk of extinction—a high enough risk that drove madmen like Umok to hop on their starships and travel all the way to Earth so they could find compatible mates, so they could save their people.

Except these fellas never asked us for our consent.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride ever since. Amber, Alicia, Jewel, and I have found refuge among the Sunnaites of the Fire Tribe. The Sky Tribe wanted to force us into their breeding program. It is the Sky Tribe who continue to pursue this avenue in two different and equally disturbing ways: some of their leaders still hope to get their hands on the four of us, while others actively work on sending more starships to Earth.

With the Fire Tribe’s help, we’ve managed to obstruct them on both fronts. Jewel’s military experience came as a bonus and led to the destruction of two Sky Tribe starships. Many of the scientists and engineers who helped build those things died in the civil war, so the knowledge and the expertise required to build more is slim to none.

“It won’t hurt him, will it?” Amber asks, holding her son Salem.

The little guy is turning two, and he is a gorgeous creature already. Slightly smaller than the average Sunnaite baby, Salem got a lot of his fathers’ side—the reddening skin, the devilish horns and the tail, the skeletal and muscular structure, but he also inherited plenty from Amber.

The soft gaze, the playful smile, her smooth facial features, and definitely her spunk. I thought she was crazy at first, falling in love with Binzen and Izzo Mal, tribe chiefs of the Mal clan. But these double bonds are the custom here. It has been this way for eons. One woman for two Sunna men, and according to Amber, it’s an extraordinary experience.

“I only need a drop,” I tell her. “It’s a prick, it’ll sting a little, but you just kiss the hurt away like you do any other boo-boo, and Salem’s gonna be fine.”

“Okay. We’re lucky he’s not in a fussy mood today,” Amber chuckles, planting a kiss on the boy’s forehead. As soon as he feels her lips, he smiles delightedly. “He shouldn’t complain much. I hope!”

“You dote on him enough, I’m not even worried,” I reply with a grin.

Truth be told, I am just a tiny bit jealous. Amber was the first to fall in love on Sunna. With Sunna. She resisted at first, she fought hard to return home with the rest of us. But the love bond she shares with Binzen and Izzo transcends biology and reason. I’ve tried explaining it from a medical perspective. I even tried using Alicia’s anthropological angle. But what Amber shares with the Mal brothers goes far beyond. I see it in the way they treat her, in the way they look at her, in the way they’ve built their family despite the constant adversities.

It's hard to find happiness in a place that has seen so much violence and bloodshed. Where skirmishes still ravage entire tribes every other week. The Sky Tribe are relentless in their pursuit, but so are the Fire Tribe—except the latter believe in helping Sunna heal from the inside.

They’re convinced the plague comes from within. That Sunna’s inner fire is suffering. I’m not sure they know how to fix it yet, but at least they’re mostly against forcing human women to breed in order to save their species. Mostly. There are some dissenting voices among them, but none loud nor influential enough to change the entire Fire Tribe’s approach.

For now, the girls and I are safe. Protected. Respected. Cherished.

And my medical expertise gives me an edge. I’ve been working on this plague issue for three years. Studying the strain and its effects on the Sunnaite woman’s body. Trying different cures and synthesizing various types of medication to slow its progression. I managed to give Lorra another year before she unfortunately succumbed to the disease.

“Okay, hold him still,” I tell Amber as I prepare a sterile needle. It’s tiny. The kid should barely feel it.

Amber tightens her grip, and I do what I have to do in order to collect my sample. Of course, Salem winces and tries to give us a good cry about it, but his mother is quick to shower him with playful pecks until he completely forgets the whole thing.

“His blood is essential,” she says. “Mine, yours… it’s completely human, and we already know it contains the genetic information to explain why we’re immune to the plague.”

“I’m hoping Salem’s blood will tell us more,” I reply, nodding in agreement. I’ve studied this extensively, and Amber knows we’re getting closer to a cure. We aren’t rushing to share the details with the rest of the Fire Tribe just yet. We agreed to have something concrete before we give these people hope.

“If he has additional markers, then evolution does have an endgame here,” I add. “If Salem’s genetic baggage leads him to have immune female Sunnaite children in the future, then…”

“Then Umok had every reason to do what he did in the first place,” Amber sighs.

“It doesn’t make it okay.”

“No, kidnapping women is never okay,” she says, rolling her eyes. “But if you manage to synthesize a cure from Salem’s blood and ours—”

“Then it’s an absolute game changer,” I say. “End of the plague. End of the civil war. And the few Sunnaite women who have survived up to this point will be able to live without fear of dying in excruciating pain. Their species will be saved.”

And the Sky Tribe won’t have reasons to keep trying to go back to Earth for more human women. It sounds easy enough, but I’ve got so many hurdles ahead. First, there’s the lack of biomedical equipment for me to do my work the way I’d be able to do it back home.

The few research facilities that may have what I need are deep within Sky Tribe territory, and since they’re at war with our side, it’s damn near impossible for me to get access.

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