Candidate (Selected Book 4) (7 page)

"I understand your words. I do not understand everything you said."

"You understand I do not want to be here."

"That I understand."

"You understand I find the males deeply intimidating."

"You do not find me intimidating?"

"Not at the moment, no. You understand humans feel especially vulnerable when undressed."

"I understand this as a fact, but I do not understand why."

"Then I think you understand enough."

She made a head cocking motion, and then she turned, raising her voice. She spoke rapidly in another language. At a pause, I said, "I'm going to swim."

But she put a hand on my arm. "Please wait." Then she finished what she was saying to the males. I have no idea how they felt about it, but they left me alone. Then she turned back to me. "May I swim beside you?"

"I bet you swim much faster than I do."

"May I?"

"Yes, if you like."

Then I turned, kicked off the end of the pool, and began swimming another lap. An instant later, the alien was beside me, swimming the same pace I set.

* * * *

She stayed beside me for the rest of my time in the pool. Periodically we stopped so I could catch my breath, and then we talked. I learned her squad was one of several assigned to the ET delegation at the United Nations. "We're here for two years," she said.

"Where do you go after that?"

"We'll find out," she said.

She asked about me, and we compared notes about family. She'd left her family to come to Earth, but she had her squad mates. She wasn't mated. "But surely some of the men on your squad are interested in you."

"That is bad for morale," she replied.

"So whom do you date?" I had to explain that concept.

"I have not, since leaving our home."

"Oh," I said. "That doesn't sound fair."

"It is not about fair," she said.

We swam a little longer, then the visor warned me I had an hour until dinner. I came to a stop. "I'm running out of time today. Could you ask them to turn their backs when I get out?"

"Of course. May I talk to you more another time?"

"I'd like that," I said. "Thank you, Jessica."

She changed languages and spoke for a moment. The males were actually nice and turned their backs. I made a dash for the towel, wrapping it around me, then grabbing the robe. By the time I turned, some of the males were watching me again. I tried to ignore them and headed for the locker room.

* * * *

Everything I needed was there. I washed thoroughly, which felt good. But there wasn't a brush, and I realized I should have asked for one. I tried running my fingers through my hair, but it was going to end up drying like this. I sighed and headed for the locker.

It opened for me, and inside I found a very small amount of clothing, but there was a brush and hair dryer. I was surprised by that, but I made use. When I was done, words appeared in front of me.

You may take the brush with you, but leave the hair dryer here.

I moved back to the locker, stowing the hair dryer. Then I stared at the clothing. "Are you watching me, Administrator Brighteyes?"

Dress in the clothes provided. Leave the robe.

I sighed. The undies and camisole were new. But it was just a camisole. I couldn't believe she was making me dress like this.

"Where is my sports bra?"

Laundry.

"Will I get it back?"

We'll see.

After that, I stalled, working slowly. I hung the robe up. I put the towel in the damp towel bin. I poked through the locker in case new clothes suddenly appeared.

Hey, they had advanced technology. I didn't know what they could do.

I didn't find out whether they could materialize fresh clothing. It was clear this was all she was going to give me.

"Will you talk to me?"

A moment later, her image appeared. "What can I do for you, Ms. Hayes?"

"You could call me Andromeda."

She paused for a moment then inclined her head. "You do not offer for me to call you Andie?"

"No," I said. "Administrator, you told me I would be punished if I strayed from expectations. I do not wish to do so inadvertently."

"The visor will warn you," she replied. "You should now return to your cell. The visor will begin to guide you the moment you step from the locker room." She paused. "Did you enjoy your swim?"

"I would have enjoyed it more if I could have been a little less self conscious."

"As I said, I want you off balance. I will grow weary if you continue to harangue me."

I stared for a moment. "Will you tell me why you are treating me differently than past mating candidates?"

"Perhaps, but not right now. Return to your cell, Ms. Hayes."

I sighed. "Yes, Administrator."

She terminated the call. I turned to the entrance. The blue lights appeared in the air, and they were easy to follow. I retraced a portion of my steps, climbed into the elevator, and went down what felt a short distance. I stepped out of the elevator. The blue lights told me to turn left. I looked right, and everything was tinged in red.

At that point, I contemplated misbehaving. I stood still, wondering. Could I get free? I doubted it. I didn't have control of the elevator. I was pretty sure the Catseye could readily track me. The place was filled with guards to fulfill her bidding, both the humans who helped them as well as the aliens I'd seen.

I could make trouble, but I was absolutely convinced any rebellion I might make would be exceedingly short lived. And I had no doubt in my mind the Catseye would implement a far harsher punishment than I wished to accept.

I sighed and followed the blue lights. I passed down a corridor lined with cells, but when I glanced at each, they were empty. The lights turned left and stopped at one of the cells. It looked like any other.

I stepped up to it and stopped, and a moment later, a doorway appeared. I meekly stepped through, and when I turned around, the doorway was gone.

I was their meek prisoner, and it galled me I'd delivered myself right back into my own cell.

I looked around. I couldn't tell if it was the same cell. It looked the same, but they all looked the same. But there were no women across from me. Indeed, I hadn't seen a single person since leaving the pool.

I wondered about that. I knew the visor could show me what it wished. I wondered if it could hide things it wished to hide.

I decided thinking about that would drive me insane.

I sighed and sat on the bed, pulling my knees to my chest.

* * * *

Dinner was only a few minutes. I heard a noise, and then there was a chime and a voice that told me dinner had arrived.

I ate. I cleaned up. I sat back on the bed. A minute later, words appeared in front of me.

Initiating visor demonstration.

Those words stayed there for a few seconds, and then the visor began speaking to me. It gave me a tour of its capabilities. I had to say, I was impressed.

The demonstration completed, then more words appeared.

Some features are disabled.

Oh, of course they were. I wondered if the Catseye were teasing me, and she had only enabled the boring features. But after a moment, new words appeared.

If you wish to begin the tutorial, blink rapidly twice.

I read it twice, then quickly blinked twice. The words faded, and then the visor began teaching me how to use it.

* * * *

In the end, it wasn't hard. Composing a text message would take time. But the interface wasn't complicated.

Once the tutorial was over, I browsed through the features to see which were enabled. I looked for and found every feature I could remember from the demonstration, and I couldn't figure out what was disabled.

There was an email system. I poked my nose into it. I smiled and hit the button to compose an email. Then I tried to select a recipient.

There was no way to type someone's address. I could pick from the list of choices, and there were only two: Jasmine Brighteyes and Jessica Maple. I stared for a while. I bet if the Catseye were wearing the visor, there'd be a feature that let her type an email address. I decided I knew what type of features were disabled.

But the name was sitting right there, so I selected the Ardent's name then composed a brief note.

Dear Jessica,

Thank you for your kind company while swimming today. Perhaps we'll meet again.

Andromeda Hayes

It was simple and perhaps not very warm. But I wasn't feeling very warm, either. I hovered my gaze over the Send button for a while, then squinted, and off it went.

I was wondering what to do when the visor told me I had new mail. That was fast. I clicked the Read Now button to discover a note not from the Ardent, but from Administrator Brighteyes.

Your visor can provide a variety of distractions. It can also help you to sleep, if you desire. I have also added additional options from the main menu related to your job for me. You officially begin tomorrow at ten AM, but if you wish to study tonight, you could. Your visor displays your schedule including meals, times you will work for me, and your windows to participate in exercise.

Jasmine Brighteyes

I found the schedule. It was accessed directly from the main menu, and sure enough, it made sense. Breakfast was at 7:30. There was a blue period from breakfast until 9:30. I was then scheduled to work from 10:00 until 4:00, and then a blue period until 5:30. Dinner at 6:00, and nothing marked after that.

I found the new option from the main menu. It was titled simply, Job. I clicked it, and I was presented with two more options: Videos and Tutorial.

I went to the videos first and quickly learned these were from past challenges. The first was listed as an overview, and so I clicked it.

It was background. I learned about the challenge process. I learned about the different arenas. And I learned some of the challenges were games such as chess or even cards.

After that, I had access to what seemed like an endless number of other videos, and I was provided different ways to search, sort, and index them. I could search by date, participant, type of competition, or arena used.

I figured out how to list the videos by human participant sorted in reverse chronological order. The list showed the woman's name, the date of the earliest video, the number of videos, and the total duration.

Near the top was a woman named Apple Hayes. We shared a last name, and so I selected her. This gave me a much shorter list of videos. There was one titled simply, "Contestants." I clicked it. Then I watched. There was video and voiceover.

First, it displayed two images, one of a human woman and one of an alien male. I paused the video and stared at the alien. I couldn't tell relative size, but he looked powerfully built and, well, humanoid, anyway. He had the usual assortment of appendages: one head, two arms, two legs. He was wearing what looked like a vest, pants, and boots. His muscles seemed powerful, and there was something unusual about his skin. It was almost iridescent, and I would see shortly he had scales.

Scales like a snake.

He was introduced as Tom Baskins. It seemed strange to look at what was clearly an alien with such a normal, western name.

Apple Hayes was twenty-two years old, five-foot-four, and, I decided, quite cute. She had short, black hair and a pert nose. But in her picture, she looked sad. She wasn't smiling, and I thought her eyes looked red.

I imagined that was a common look.

I wondered who saw these videos. I wondered if they realized when a woman looked like this, it was because she'd been crying.

I wondered if the aliens cared. I found it unlikely. Jasmine Brighteyes clearly didn't care how much she hurt us.

I let the video run. The video introduced Apple. She was a recent college graduate with a degree in chemistry. I learned a little about her test scores, which didn't quite make sense at the time. She was a middle daughter.

Then the video went on to talk about Tom Baskins, the alien. His information made little sense as well. But then I watched as two guards led Apple into the arena. She ascended a podium and then answered a number of questions. When the questions ended, the video faded.

I watched Apple's remaining videos, one after another. I watched Apple as she was led onto the arena floor. This time there were pillars rising from the sand. I counted, and there were sixteen of them arranged in a circle. Apple was led to one. Her hands were pressed to the top, and the stone swallowed them, just like the table and chairs had been holding me. Other women were led to the other pillars.

Then Administrator Brighteyes talked to the women. She gave them one last chance to change their minds and select from a species that prefer a willing mate. A moment later, four other aliens stepped onto the sands and came to talk to the women. One of the women accepted the offer given to her, and she left with one of the aliens.