03

They were all tall, muscular and had large tattoos covering their entire backs ; black as midnight and all seemed to be different and unique. Maybe it was from the exhaustion or maybe it was the alcohol she had consumed finally catching up to her, but her knees buckled and everything turned pitch black.

« Is it dead ? » The man standing beside the Doctor asked quietly, unsure whether Trent Dower had harmed the woman

« Do not be foolish. She just fainted… » The Doctor sighed, « like the last 10. » The doctor informed him, not looking up from the chart he was holding. He knew who brought who and who was paired with who, with a few simple clicks on the touchscreen pad in his hands

Alexa gradually felt herself waking up, a headache threatening to crack open her skull and a throbbing pain at the base of her spine as she was released from her nightmare. Obviously, it had to be a nightmare. The fight. The man who broke in. The flash of light. All the men.

It was a nightmare.

« I think she is waking up. » The assistant whispered to his mentor, regarding the human woman on the bed with curiosity.

He had never seen a human female before that night and had never thought them to be as attractive. They resembled the women of his home planet and it was odd how they seemed almost exactly like them. Without the intelligence or height, of course. Most human females seemed to be rather short in comparison to the Xrionian women.

« Alexandra Marie Dominick. Number 37. Are you awake ? » The doctor asked, knowing by her heart rate that she was.

Alexa didn’t want to move or open her eyes, afraid of what she would see. Was the nightmare not finished ?

It would explain the throbbing pain in her back ; she really was hauled over a railing. It would explain the headache ; she had a hangover from drinking so much.

She hesitantly opened her eyes and was greeted by two faces and bright white lights. She was in heaven. That’s it. It explains it.

« W-where am I ? » She croaked, watching the two faces.

One was staring, straight faced, at a glass panel in his hands, pressing on it as magnetic blue words, symbols and pictures flew across it. The second face was a lot friendlier looking, beaming down at her.

« You are on The Xrionian Imperial Space Cruiser. » The assistant chirped, happy she was awake. Alexa wished she could say the same ; the hammering headache and throbbing back pain was less than fun to wake up to. « Or XISC for short, » He added, looking over to the doctor, most likely for help.

Accepting that he should probably talk to her and follow through with his duty, he sighed and lowered the chart, looking over at her.

« Alexandra Dominick. 22. Born February 14th of the year 1992 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Parents are Veronica Dominick and Andrew Dominick, both aged 50. You like painting, listening to Earth music, long walks on the beach, » he rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath that Earth women were all identical. He had read ‘long walks on the beach’ for more than 30 women.

« What ? » Alexa scowled, « That was a long questionnaire ! I was getting bored. »

He nodded, pursing his lips and continued reading her information.

She frowned. « Wait ! How do you know all of this ? »

Dr. Naveer sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he tried his best to smile and said, « You filled this out for us, Miss Dominick. »

Alexa looked pointedly at him. She had thought the questionnaire was just something everybody randomly got ; not that it was a ‘special selection’ and she would end up being kidnapped by crazy people.

Before she got the chance to hurl her questions at the doctor, a tall, burly man with light brown hair and deep blue eyes appeared in the room.

Alexa couldn’t help but wince back ; the man was huge and had the undoubted aura of a warrior about him. He stood straight, his clothes unwrinkled like he never slouched and his hair slicked back in a sleek, timeless style.

« Good evening, ladies. » He said, his voice echoing throughout the room, making the already scared girls shake in fear. Most had never seen somebody that oozed power like he did and, suffice to say, it scared them. « My name is General Jenks and I thank you for taking part in this. Your cooperation is highly appreciated. We understand that some of you were unaware that we would be taking you in such manner, but my second in command did not follow orders and took you tonight. My condolences if you were with family or were busy, but this arrangement is permanent. »

Alexa couldn’t help, but feel like she didn’t belong. After all, President Goodhart had said it was single women that would be sent up and she was engaged. She couldn’t get much further from single if she tried.

Thinking back to when the questionnaire had come in the mail, she winced inwardly. Her and Seth had just had another fight and, in her anger, she had put she was single.

The little split second decision had gotten her stuck with a bunch of weirdoes wanting her because they couldn’t keep their women satisfied. Wasn’t that what the President had said ? It was something along those lines.

She hadn’t been listening ; she didn’t think it applied to her and now she was kicking herself. He could have said they were going to eat the women and she wouldn’t know about it.

« Your purpose here is to mate with our warriors-« 

« It’s not that hard to satisfy women, » A girl with bright red hair scoffed, « would you like me to show you men how it’s done ? Because you clearly haven’t been-« 

He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with her outburst and said, « -our women have died out and we need women to continue our lineage. You will each be assigned to one of the warriors by compatibility. That will be determined by the information you gave when you filled out the questionnaire. »

The redhead grimaced, slumping her shoulders and muttered an apology. The General forced a smile and surveyed the women for their reaction. Most were wide-eyed, somewhat fearful and others seemed as though they didn’t care what happened. He expected their fear to subside as time went on, they had volunteered for the programme ; it was a requirement he had mandated the President to carry out.

« As I was saying, a hundred of my people volunteered to this cause so we are very grateful for your help. Your health will be monitored every month, just to make sure that no viruses or damages may come to you. Our men have been notified of this, but if any of you become impregnated, we must know immediately. We have to take every precaution we can to make sure that no harm comes to you or your child. »