"Where am I?" Tempest had already heard Mexyn refer to where she was several times before, but Tempest wanted to make sure that she had every detail correct.
"You are in Thraqe."
"Is that the name of the planet or just this place?" Tempest continued.
"It is the name of this…" Mexyn turned her head to the side as if she were thinking or waiting for something to translate. "You'd call it a country. It's our civilized land. This is the planet of Ustea."
"So there are other countries?" Tempest queried.
"Yes, there are two other inhabited landmasses, but unfortunately the population there is nothing but savages."
Tempest gasped at the word "savages? Is that really what you meant to say?"
At any other time, when Tempest heard the word savage, it was due to people being intolerant. No one should be called a savage unless they were truly beasts.
"Yes, uncivilized."
"Do you mean that the people there are just not like you?" Tempest narrowed her eyes at Mexyn.
"No, I mean they are uncivilized. We Thraqen are a vast people. Many are different, but those on the lands of Skoq and Uspanx are as close to wild beasts as any being on this planet. They sacrifice their young, do not wear clothes, their language is nothing more than grunts and basal expressions, they eat their dead."
The final description was enough to cause Tempest's eyes to widen in shock. These Skoq and Uspanx lands definitely didn't sound like a place Tempest ever wanted to visit.
"Okay, I got it. Let's move on." Tempest wanted to get as much information out of Mexyn as she could. "You told me before that I was one of the few that had made it this far into the transition. What did that mean? Do you have any other humans on this planet?"
"As of last count there are six other humans on the planet, four we suspect will succumb to the wilderness in the coming days. Two we have kept in deep sleep due to the nature of their retrieval."
"Retrieval? You mean their abduction?" Tempest clenched her jaw. She didn't want Mexyn to sugarcoat what had happened to her. She didn't mysteriously appear on the planet of Ustea. She was taken.
"Abduction. Yes. I suppose you can call it that. The high council thought it would be easier to take compatible women who had already forgone their lives on their home planets."
Forgone their lives? Does that mean they abducted her because she had tried to take her own life?
"You brought me here because I tried to kill myself?"
Mexyn smiled and nodded her head once.
Tempest closed her eyes tightly and silently berated herself. This was all her fault. If she hadn't been so stupid, she wouldn't be in this situation.
When she opened her eyes again, Mexyn was still looking at her, but there was no judgment in those large eyes.
"You said something about Royals wanting to know more about my kind?"
"Yes, they are very interested in humans. Human women, to be specific."
"Why? What do the Thraqen people want with human women?"
Mexyn looked away as if she would rather not tell Tempest the truth of the matter. "Unfortunately, though our world is technologically advanced and we've made countless biological advancements, there are some illnesses and plagues that we just haven't been able to overcome. Most of the population believes that we've been cursed by the old gods. For the past three generations, my species has been unable to produce many single-genital females."
The confusion must have been clear on Tempest's face.
Did she really say single genital? What does that mean.
The more Mexyn talked, the more confused Tempest became. "You mean you have people on this planet with more than one set of genitals?"
"Yes, don't you?" Mexyn tilted her head as she questioned Tempest.
"I mean yes, but that's usually an anomaly. Not the usual case."
"On Ustea, there are several combinations that can occur. An alpha male, the strongest of our civilization, will have two penises. An alpha female will have a vagina and a penis. Beta males will only have one penis. Beta females will only have a vagina, but they will lack the internal organs, uterus, and fallopian tubes, needed for reproduction. Omega males will have no genitals and, unfortunately, are only used as pleasure serfs. Omega women are the only ones in our population who can bear children. Long story short, our entire civilization depends on being able to find females that are compatible and able to reproduce." Mexyn released a deep breath and waited for Tempest to complete her round of questions.
Tempest nearly laughed out loud, "And you…expect me…to do this?"
Mexyn's face fell. "Well, no one will force you. You have to understand omega females are viewed as sacred. Nearly god-like. You would be treated like a princess. I promise you, it'll be a wonderful experience."
At that point, Tempest couldn't hold back any longer. She laughed loudly and from her gut. She laughed so long and hard that tears sprang to her eyes and leaked down her face.
"You can't be serious." Tempest composed herself and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well, yes, I'm very serious."
"No, you aren't." Tempest narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, I am." Mexyn nodded her head like that would stop the panic that was surging beneath Tempest's surface.
"I want to leave. I want to go home. Get me back to earth now." Tempest raised her voice to the point that Mexyn cringed away.
"Please calm down."
"How the hell can I calm down? You're planning to marry me to some alien who has the sole purpose of knocking me up. I don't want that. I'm not going to do it. You just told me that you wouldn't force me, so I'm telling you that I'm not going to do it. You might as well just take me back now and save both of us the headache." Tempest fought to take a deep breath.
"You don't understand. I can't."
"Why the hell not?" Tempest screeched.
Mexyn put her hands back up into that surrendering gesture.
This time it did nothing to quell the anger inside Tempest.
After a few seconds of silence, Mexyn continued, "I can't take you back because your planet is restricted to my kind. We are too advanced, and it would create an international incident. The last thing we want to do is start some kind of war."
Tempest's heart dropped. Mexyn just told her in clear words that there was no way that she would be going back to Earth. She would be stuck on Ustea for the foreseeable future.
"I still don't want to get married. Why would I want to pledge my life to a man I don't know? That's not how it's done in my culture."
"Life?" Mexyn furrowed her brow.
"Yes, you said I'm supposed to be married…"
"True, but marriage is only a contracted set time."
"Contract? Set time?" Tempest tried to understand.
"Yes, for 22 double moon cycles."
"What is a moon cycle? I mean, how long is that in Earth time?" Tempest asked.
Mexyn pulled up the floating display again and flipped through a few icons. "Based on what I can understand, it would be six earth months."
A spark of hope bloomed in Tempest's gut. "That's all? And what happens after the six months? Will I have to marry again?"
"No, not for another…" Mexyn paused and looked at the display again, "Five earth years."
The excitement nearly overwhelmed her. If Tempest were to believe everything that Mexyn had told her, she would get married, let her pseudo-husband pamper her, and then figure out how to live on an alien planet. That is until she met someone who would risk taking her back to earth.
Tempest prayed it wouldn't take five years.
She looked at Mexyn and hoped that she could really trust all that the alien had just told her. She'd already told her that if she chose not to marry, they'd put her out in the wilderness, and Tempest knew she wouldn't survive there. This was the only option. The only way to stay alive.
Tempest straightened her spine. She kept Mexyn's gaze before she said, "Alright, let's make me some poor man's wife."