His by Right (4 page)

            "You need not awaken. I am here to check your injuries," it spoke before she could question its motives.

            Something cold touched her chin where she'd fallen on it. Bleary-eyed, Meredith looked up at the creature bent over her.

            Shock and fear instantly placed every nerve ending on edge. She sat up so quickly, she nearly bumped into the alien holding what appeared to be a piece of gauze. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to retreat. She stared wide-eyed at the creature and tried to remain calm. "Who are you?" she finally managed ask.

            "I am Sedilar. I am a...medic."

            Sedilar was also the spitting image of a praying mantis, only much taller, and red instead of green. And with ten appendages rather than six.

            Meredith closed her eyes and willed her galloping heart to slow down. She knew she had to stop thinking these things were harmful, but it was difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate the television shows and movies, as well as documentaries where alien abductions were portrayed as a person's worst nightmare.

            The gauze touched her chin again. She felt the creature lightly dab more of the cold stuff.

            "It is always difficult to assimilate in the beginning. Give it time, and your fears will ease."

            "H-has anyone ever refused to leave here once their time was up?" 
Now, where did that question come from?

            
She thought she heard a chuckle. "Yes. We have had products who preferred to remain with us."

            "Did you let them?"

            "In a few cases, yes. But, eventually, they had to leave."

            "Why?"

            Sedilar didn't answer. Meredith opened her eyes to see the medic running a device over her arms and legs. After a short while, it replaced the device in the pouch slung over its head that she hadn't noticed, and reached for her knee. Another piece of gauze-like material was used to daub more cold stuff on her shin.

            "Better?"

            "Uhh, yeah. Thanks."

            "My readings show you are having internal problems, correct?" The thing tapped the top of its triangular head.

            "I'm fine, thank you."

            The medic tilted its head almost one hundred-eighty degrees. "You are in pain," it insisted more firmly. "I am here to help. Tell me what kind of pain."

            The throbbing continued to worsen, forcing her to squint against the pinpoint of light suddenly shining in her eyes.

            "I have a headache."

            "What brought it on?"

            "I don't know." She gave a one shoulder shrug. "Car accident. Forced abduction. Caffeine withdrawal. Take a guess."

            The light moved away, and Meredith rubbed her eyes. There was a hiss and a brief sting against her neck. She clapped a hand over the offended patch of skin as Sedilar withdrew.

            "How do you feel now?"

            "I..." She paused, realizing the headache was gone. In fact, she felt very clear-headed and alert. "It's better. Thanks."

            "Since I cannot detect any other discomfort in your system, I will inform Gleeth you are healthy and ready to work. Is there anything else you need before I leave?"

            "Yeah. A copy of the Beatles greatest hits, the Rolling Stones live at the Palladium, a few country and western tunes, and some Motown."

            The alien tilted its head again, giving Meredith the impression that the expression was universal. "What are those, specifically?"

            "Music. Do you understand the concept of music?"

            "Have you asked the ship for it?"

            She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "You mean the yellow box that served me my food and gave me something to wear?"

            "Try. If it fails to deliver what you require, let Gleeth know."

            The medic left the room without any further remark, leaving Meredith alone. Quickly, she hurried over to the panel and opened it to reveal the yellow box with the colorful buttons.

            "All right. I know what the green and blue buttons do. Let's go with the orange." Pressing it once, she leaned closer to the cube and said, "I'd like some music."

            A couple of minutes passed, way longer than the time she'd had to wait for her meal. Not giving up, she punch the red button and repeated her request. When nothing happened, she hit all of the other buttons, including the green and blue ones, and asked for music.

            Eventually one of them worked. The door in the box slid open, revealing a tiny disk the size of a watch battery. Meredith lifted it with her fingertip.

            "Great. Now how do I get it to play?"

            After a fruitless couple of hours to trying to get something out of it, or to have something delivered that would play it, she gave up and went back to sleep.

Chapter Six

First

            "Merry. Merry, it is time you awaken. You have clientele awaiting your arrival."

            Something nudged her side. Meredith squinted through her lashes, half-prepared for another shock. For some reason, the translator these beings had implanted in her tended to make everyone sound exactly alike, which was one reason why she'd nearly been scared out of her skin when the medic showed up. Sedilar had sounded exactly like Gleeth. This time, though, her visitor was Gleeth.

            "I know you are awake," the alien almost admonished. Meredith smiled to herself. It was getting easier to read the inflections in Gleeth's voice.

            "Yeah. I'm awake now." She yawned and slowly got to her feet, and made her way to the toilet.

            "I was informed by Sedilar that you are well enough to take your first client."

            Meredith nodded, running her fingers through her hair. It was unruly and needed a good brushing, but at least it was clean. For once, she was glad the clientele wouldn't be able to see her from the shoulders up.

            She followed Gleeth, taking mental notes as to where they were going, and how to get there, as per the creature's instructions.

            "I will not always lead you to your workstation. You must learn the route yourself." At one point, the alien glanced back at her. "Do you have any questions?"

            "Just one. I asked the yellow box for some music, and it gave me a little white button, but I didn't know what to do with it. How do I get my music to play?"

            "Did you try to insert it into your ear?"

            Meredith paused and nearly slapped her forehead. Of all the things she tried, sticking the little button into her ear was one trick she hadn't tried. She'd thought of it, but she was afraid the thing would slide down her ear canal, and she'd have to call the praying mantis to come dig it out. She hurried to catch up after promising herself it would be the first thing she'd do when she returned to her room.

            They passed several corridors, until they entered a darker area. Here, the walls were more of a richer reddish-brown hue, reminding Meredith of old whiskey or bourbon. The lighting also seemed subdued. Presently, Gleeth stopped in front of the long hall, and a panel slid aside.

            They walked into a very narrow room, so small that she could almost extend her arms out to the side and touch both walls. Like the outside corridor walls, the predominant shade here was the whiskey color. In front of them was a low table with a pallet, much like the kind she slept on, except there were more of those neon pink cuffs at both ends. Meredith pointed them out.

            "They are to help prevent you from falling off," Gleeth answered.

            "Falling off?"

            "Lie down with your feet facing the panel."

            "What panel?" She started to remove her gown when Gleeth stopped her.

            "Keep it on. The clientele prefer you wear it."

            With the alien guiding her, she laid on her back with her feet almost touching the rear wall. Gleeth closed the cuffs.

            "In the future, you only need to touch the restraints for them to automatically close."

            After helping her adjust herself until she was comfortable, the alien lifted her arms until they were above her head, and the upper set of cuffs locked above her elbows.

            "These will let the table know how far to extend into the other room."

            "What do I do now?"

            "Nothing. The table will rise or lower to accommodate the height of the clientele. Once the barrier comes down to hide your face, the far door will open to let the clientele inside."

            "Aren't you staying with me?"

            "It is not allowed."

            Gleeth left without a sound. Even the doorway was too quiet to hear as it closed. At the same time, she felt the table move. In the near darkness, it was difficult to tell if it was going up or down. There was a slight jolt when it stopped, however, and then she definitely detected it moving forward.

            The wall at her feet moved aside, taking her slowly into the adjacent room that was no bigger than the one she'd been in. As she reached the wall, a panel lowered to below her armpits where it flowed downward and solidified around her upper body, leaving her breasts on the other side. Flashes of a magic trick where a magician sawed a woman in half went through her mind. At the same time, she realized she'd never seen or met any of the other kidnapped victims. All she had was Gleeth's word for it. What if she was really meant to be food for these creatures? What if all of this was a ruse, and she was being decked out to be their next banquet? She fought the image as the table halted and the panel stopped just above the pallet.

            "Do not panic, Merry. All will be fine."

            The voice came from somewhere overhead. It had to be Gleeth, trying to reassure her. Apparently the creature was watching the monitor. Meredith wondered if there was also a camera in this room. She didn't doubt there would be one in the room on the other side.

            "I-I'm afraid."

            "You are perfectly safe. No harm will come to you."

            "No one's coming in to eat me?"

            "If you mean the feasting sort of eat, no. However, there may be some oral stimulation."

            "How do I know you're telling me the truth?"

            "Because we do not eat your kind," came the flat no-nonsense reply.

           
It suddenly dawned on her that all this time, Gleeth had been referring to her own pleasure. To her reaching an orgasm. To her being satisfied, and not the clientele's enjoyment. Was that the way it was meant to be?

           
And here, all this time, I thought it was the johns who got off, not the girl.

            "What if I make a sound? What if I scream out when I come? Will they hear me on the other side, or in the other rooms?" Meredith had no idea if there were any other rooms nearby, or even if they were currently in use. But it would be nice to know she'd have a modicum of privacy.

            "Go ahead and release your pleasure with whatever sounds you want. Scream, if you feel the need. The rooms are soundproof."

            From where she lay, she could see the inner wall of her room. The lower half of her body, from her breasts down, was in the other room. Meredith licked her lips in nervous anticipation.

            She had faced an epiphany the same time she had accepted her fate. She'd also been forced to admit to herself that she was getting exactly what she'd been thinking of doing for the past few months.

            In a way.

            Her personal life on Earth had come to a sluggish halt with the additional workload her job had heaped upon her. On one hand, she considered herself extremely lucky she hadn't gotten pink-slipped like so many others did at the company. However, on the other hand, somebody still had to the work, which meant those left on the payroll were assigned the uncompleted tasks and duties, and with few exceptions, with their same original deadlines.

            She couldn't remember the last time she'd mattress danced, much less with whom. Sadly, the vibrator just didn't do the job at times when she most needed the relief. Which was why she had been considering taking on a "friend with benefits" type of relationship. Something that brought no complications. A halfway decent and maybe attractive guy who could scratch her itch, before they both went home to their own beds. She'd even been checking over potential prospects she might be able to engage. Guys whom she knew liked their girls curvy instead of stick thin. Girls with a little extra junk in the trunk. She had been on the verge of approaching her first choice that same day her car had slid off the road and she'd ended up...
here
.

           
Stop going all Hollywood, and imagining the worst. Believe Gleeth. I'm going to get fucked. Whoever is going to be in the other room is going to try and get me to orgasm because he wants the points. The cards are all stacked in my favor. Yeah, the circumstances around all this suck, but what's the damage? You're alive, and you'll get to go home in two years.

           
Fortunately, the little talk to herself, and Gleeth's reassurance, helped. She surprised herself to know she was actually looking forward to what was about to happen. In fact, she could tell she was already getting juicy between the thighs.

            Meredith took a deep breath. A cool puff of air brushed across her breasts. She adjusted her hips slightly, when a pair of warm hands closed over her knees. With a little tug, her legs were spread apart, leaving most of her buttocks hanging in mid-air.

            She squeezed her eyes shut and waited. But for good measure, she prayed anyway.

Chapter Seven
Cheated