Page 5 of Mated on Live

“Oh, my god!” Sophie staggered back, the camera shaking as she forgot about keeping her hands steady. “You are kidding me. Jeanie, no way!”

“It’s right there! You were matched!”

“That’s… but… You said it was unlikely!”

“It is. But it’s right there!” Jeanie beamed, moving to click it. She stopped before she could. “Oh, wait. Sorry. Do you want to know now?”

“I, er…” Sophie hesitated. “It’s… I’m the first person scanned on Earth, right? That means… My mate is an alien, isn’t he?”

Jeanie dithered for a second. “I mean, there are some humans scanned. The trial scans from us setting up are in there.”

“But they’re mostly alien, aren’t they?”

Jeanie hesitated again before answering cautiously, “Yeah. Are you okay?”

“I’m…”

Sophie paused, no more words forthcoming. She wasn’t sure what to say. Up until this moment, the entire scanning process felt more like a hypothetical, fun sort of thing. But that status change promised her something real.

Her soulmate.

“I, er…” She licked her dry lips, swallowing convulsively.

“Sophie?” Jeanie cocked her head. “Do you need a minute?”

Sophie’s eyes darted down to her camera. To everything that was going to be beyond it. Her viewers that were going to be with her as she went through this. Their support meant everything to her, and she knew what they would say if she asked for their opinion. They would tell her to go for it. That she couldn’t let fear stop her from something this potentially rewarding. In more ways than one.

And just think of the ice cream she’d treat herself to after this.

Taking in a breath, she nodded, turning the camera back around to get a reaction shot. She smiled at the viewers on the other end.

“You heard her, sweeties. You think I’m up for that big of an adventure?”

“Actually…”

Jeanie started, but then hesitated.

“What?”

Jeanie turned, facing her with determination. “Did you mean what you said? About being part of our ad campaign if you mated an alien?”

“Er, I mean…” Sophie dithered. She certainly wasn’t against it, but it just seemed so sudden.

“We’ll pay you,” Jeanie assured her quickly. “We wanted an interspecies pairing, for Earth and in space. Having you, a human, will work for both. I mean, we couldn’t advertise a ratchi/domini pairing on Earth – no one would be able to really appreciate it. But with you, they would. And humans are very popular off Earth.”

“I mean… you’re not wrong…”

“And, since the communication relays are up and running, you would still be able to access the internet from the Coalition subnet. You’d still be able to upload your videos. You could still have access to your money. It will automatically convert to credz off Earth.”

“Oh, wow, really?”

“Yeah. That’s part of the treaty with Earth. You would even be allowed back, but it would have to be strictly controlled. No one can bring advanced tech onto Earth yet.”

“What’s all this then?” Sophie deliberately looked at the door, indicating to the scanner down the hall – something that she was absolutely certain wasn’t low tech.

“An exception. We had to implement a lot of protective measures to get that on Earth. And it’s the only one. For now! If this place is successful, we hope to open more locations, of course, but having you as a spokesperson, that would do wonders for us here. And yes, I am blatantly trying to piggyback off of the fact that you already have a lot of viewers. You’re a known entity, people will look at you on ads and know you’re not just being paid to be there. That it’s a real match!”

Sophie bit her lip. “And my mate?”

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