Page 1 of Her Alien Savior
Chapter one
Riley
Staringatthenumbershighlighted on the screen above my head, I took in a breath and sat down. This was like any other job, I tried to convince myself. There was nothing left for me on Earth. Not anymore. With my brother gone, this wasn’t just an opportunity to be adored by aliens while getting any kind of job placement training I could dream of. I took every course they offered to prepare humans for life outside of Earth, not that they were very thorough with much, but it wasn’t about that for me. Learning a few new languages, basic self-defense courses, space travel 101, and of course a briefing on different alien species that are part of the exchange program was something to pass the time… distract myself.
My nails dug into my pants, creating indents in my thighs, unable to contain my nerves. Once my number came up, I’d be scanned, and my DNA would be paired with an alien host family. This was more than simply a job for me, this was something I had to do to ease the guilt burrowing deep into my soul, making my heart heavy and my veins thick with an invisible weight that would consume me over time.
“Number Alpha G, Lema U, Four Hundred and Sixty!” a male called out over the intercom system.
I was almost up; I’d been notified when my application was close to being chosen so I’d arrive on time. The room was filled with people, humans like me, hoping to be recruited into the exchange program. Being late could mean I’d have to submit my application all over again. Could I handle waiting a few more years of busy work? I’d taken every recruitment class they allowed me to, even learned an extra language besides the language of the trill. Cial was my favorite, because of the way it felt on my tongue to express the sounds needed to indicate a change in meaning of the same word. Many of the languages were only available for download to my implant if I was accepted by the host planet, but Trillix and Cial were part of an AI program to help get humans used to the exchange program and I taught myself the language with its help. I had a few years to burn waiting for my application to process.
Just think, an entire year of experiencing another culture, something new to learn, to distract myself. Maybe I’d like it so much that I would want to stay? It was better than most job opportunities on Earth, on file anyways, and I had to know that I didn’t fuck things up, that I wasn’t to blame for losing everything. Getting through a year in the exchange program would help convince me that I wasn’t wrong, that I wasn’t the reason my brother died.
“…Seventy!” they called out, distracting my dark thoughts.
I jumped up, lifting a hand. “Me!” I squealed, and the man beside me scrunched his brows up, like I was the alien in the room for being excited to be selected. You’d think he’d stare at some of the actual aliens that worked in reception with their scale-like skin and overly big eyes, and lack of hair. Not even the females from Trillume had hair, on their head or otherwise. There were only a few of them at the recruitment center today, and they wore masks over their faces because of something in Earth’s oxygen that didn’t agree with them. Only a few aliens were allowed on Earth, and even they were strictly monitored if they left the exchange buildings, and used some kind of cloaking device that made them look more human. They were usually only around when a shuttle was picking up exchanges.
The girl next to me shook her head at my fidgety nature and remarked, “You know the chance that you’ll get to visit the Trillume Galactic placement center is like a fraction of a percentage.”
That’s where most everyone wanted to be accepted. It was the elite of all exchange programs. The aliens there were mostly humanoid, large, and sexy as sin. Most of the men in this room waiting for placement were none too secretly praying to be placed there because the females on Trillume were tall, voluptuous, and super into human men if they could make their way to the blue district, which was similar to the red districts of Earth where all the salacious happenings were allowed. Something about how powerful they felt in comparison to a human male, and how much trill women enjoyed looking after them. Almost as if humans were a kind of exotic pet. Very well-treated pets, but pets none the less.
I shrugged. Not my thing, but to each their own kink. No shame. I wasn’t trying to mate with the aliens, I just wanted to learn everything I could about their technology and feel… useful. Feel like I was right about aliens, that what happened to my brother was just an accident and not some conspiracy theory. Losing him fucked me up in the head, and part of me thought doing this, seeing the aliens, would give me a small step towards healing and moving on, if only a little bit.
“It says here your name is Riley Spearit,” the older man at the counter said with a wrinkled nose as he quirked a brow. It wasn’t the first time someone had made fun of my name, but the derision was new.
“Yes.” My voice lilted up, as if asking a question. Yes, it was my name resolutely, but the way he said it made me almost doubt my own name.
“Like a despondent spirit?” He wouldn’t let it go. I sucked in a sigh, so I wouldn’t appear ungrateful for even being here. Jobs were hard to come by, and the human exchange trade was no exception to that.
“No? But that does sound more creative than simply having parents that were really into this old singer from like the stone ages that was a king or something of rock music. Riley was his daughter,” I rambled. “Also, it’s not spirit, it’s Spearit, like as in my ancestors way back when were warriors with spears and weapons.” I was pretty good at spearing things myself, but I kept that to myself, it wasn’t exactly an endearing quality to say I was good at handling a weapon that could skewer a person on the first greeting. They had my file, they would know I trained since a kid in weapon dancing. The art of handling weapons in a beautiful dance, but most didn’t realize it was a legit martial arts that could disarm, defend and skewer if necessary.
“Right… Let’s get this over with.” He was not impressed and ushered me through the back towards the processing rooms, waved a pen over my body, then pressed it to my arm without any preamble, taking a DNA sample. It pinched quickly, and I flinched.
“Aren’t you friendly,” I mocked. He was not very happy about his job if this was how he treated all the applicants. I guess it was a long and busy career choice, constantly processing millions of people. Okay, it was probably trillions of people, all of them excited about space travel, the new frontier, learning about new species. I was no different.
Someone yelled, “No,” from the waiting lounge I just came from. I looked over my shoulder, and another woman was ushered past us with her case handler whispering as they went.
“The shuttle is boarding now. Once you’re on, there’s no coming back until your exchange is completed. Do you understand?” she said while rubbing the woman’s shoulders that were tensed up like she was going to fight someone. I knew what the tension of preparing to kick some ass looked like, and this girl was ready. I hoped the case worker could handle herself with that one.
“Like, now, now?” she squeaked, but after a few beats she squared her shoulders and they entered one of the rooms to speak in private. My own case worker swiped the air to transfer the exchange agreement to my implant, which displayed on my overlay viewer through my contacts that were provided as soon as I signed up to be part of the program. It was happening; I was so close to being assigned to an alien host family! The contract scrolled on for quite some time. I scanned the important bits, trying to quickly get to the end.
“Please sign this waiver,” he droned, bored with his job, “We are not responsible should you have any adverse effects from joining the Human Exchange Trade—H.E.T.—or any dissatisfaction with your time, up to and including potential illness or death. You should know we take every precaution for every human’s safety and have light years of advanced medicine to assist your success, but we can’t account for everything. This is a note from the Trillume Galactic Empire, do you agree?”
The hosting species would never want anything bad to happen to a human in their care. It would destroy the trust built up over this exchange program. So, I wasn’t worried about the double reassurance paragraph that made sure I read every word and forced me to sign that section alone before continuing to the overall agreement. It was important they made sure I acknowledged that space travel was dangerous, and they can’t be held responsible if I decided to go against any regulations and eat something poisonous to humans or do something stupid and die. Because most aliens thought we were stupid, and humans were likely to harm their fragile bodies simply by existing.
I got it, our bodies weren’t as resilient as alien ones. Whatever. I was tougher than I looked.
Signing the contract, I gave my guide a determined stare that I hoped said “Bring it on!” But it was just as likely that all he saw was a small human girl, dressed in a standard issue space leotard, about to face an adventure I’d cry about and insist on returning to Earth before my exchange duration was up.
Not happening, bucko!
A ding sounded in my ears, letting me know my application was completed.
“Right, so your information has been distributed with your personal data hidden until you’ve been accepted, then you accept the exchange offer. It can take—“
He’s cut off when another notification grabs both of our attention. I was flagged for assignment… so quickly.
I was practically hyperventilating.
