Dredge Read online

  The invitation had listed genetic specifications for probable foreign species whom he could purchase and mate as well as auction dates. Already having a thorough distaste at needing the services of Galactic Continuity, Dredge had chosen the earliest date with the intention of getting this horrid business over with as soon as possible. He’d already been at the Hub for three full rotations, as his way was to be early to all things.

  The day for the auction had finally arrived, and Dredge had cast his form into that which, based on the Galactic Continuity Guidebook to Foreign Celestial Beings, was supposed to be as similar as possible to the female he would purchase in mere hours.

  At last, he finally arrived at the auction site, a large platform with an auctioneer’s stand at the front.

  The crowd was still sparse. It would still be an hour or so before the bidding officially began. Creatures from across the universe were beginning to crowd around him. He tried to be calm, understanding many of the creatures who filtered into the space and pierced his imaginary personal barrier were just like him, one of the last remaining of their kind.

  But some, he knew, were just greedy collectors eager to purchase fresh foreign flesh with which to commit heinous acts.

  Even though his current body was meant to be a perfect and true depiction of a male from the species he was about to purchase – even though all the biology should sync and parts align – the thought of copulating with any creature made him feel . . . dirty.

  Glims value shine above all else and the most beautiful of their kind were those beings whose shine glowed so brightly that it eclipsed the light of all those nearby.

  Dredge pushed that thought from his mind, though. He knew Glims were unique in that regard; he probably would not find the female he purchased to be attractive. But attraction was not his goal. No, his goal was to successfully mate with the female and have offspring. Then, if all went well, repeat the process until he had enough offspring to offer his tiny red and blue lights to the remaining Glims on Brillar for subsequent mating and offspring production.

  This whole affair was very sterile, very methodical and planned, and that is just the way Dredge wanted it. He wanted no expectations of the creature he would lie with before a new rotation began. Finding a shine mate, a being whose spirit would meld with his making them one until their light jointly expired, was a distant wish now.

  No, as king of Brillar, duty came before desires of the soul.

  The auction was about to begin, and creatures strange and ill-shaped were already pressing Dredge from all sides. They shoved and pushed him, struggling to reach the auction block for a better view of the females who were being led onto the stage. He had chosen a spot in the very back of the space for this reason, but it didn’t matter: the auctions from Planet #3 in the C-458 galaxy always generated large crowds, a fact he learned only after arriving at the Hub.

  Indeed, he had been informed that Galactic Continuity now only provided females from this planet because of their intense popularity. Naturally.

  He sighed, the feeling of air filling the pouches in his chest still a new sensation. The guidebook had called the organs ‘lungs.’ He’d spent much time pouring over the guide trying to learn as much as he could about the species from Planet #3, a planet the inhabitants called “Earth.” He’d learned much and more about the female’s reproductive cycles and how to properly prepare his new form for mating. He felt ready if not a little disgusted by the whole idea.

  The auctioneer stepped up to the block, and the crowd surged forward, taking Dredge along with it.

  He cursed, the word feeling hot and right on his tongue. He said it again.

  He followed the press of the crowd, knowing resistance was futile; they would only press back, and he had no desire to prolong or encourage contact with those beings around him.

  The auctioneer began calling for the first human female to stand at the front of the stage.

  Whoops and hollers broke out in the crowd. The human woman was trembling, though Dredge did not know if it was from fear or from cold. He’d read that their planet had both mild and frigid seasons, requiring other lifeforms to grow hair. This particular female specimen only had hair on her head it would seem, for every other part of her was completely bare. Her hands darted about, trying to cover her mammary glands and pubis. Moisture fell from her eyes, and a small string of snot slid down from her nostril and seeped into the crease of her lips.

  Dredge shivered, revolted. Disgusting creatures.

  Three specimens later, and the press of the crowd was beginning to drive him insane. He hated the way it felt to be touched in this form; the external surface was covered with millions of nerve endings which ensured Dredge could feel every poke and prod. His teeth on edge, he determined to buy the next specimen that was called forth, regardless of her appearance. Anything to remove himself from the press of beings at his back.

  The next Earth woman stepped forward, and Dredge said the curse word again, quickly regretting it. He’d determined to purchase the very next one; no point in cursing their future coupling because of his rash decisions.

  The Earthling who stood on the auction block was shorter than the previous ones. Her long, dark hair curled down and over the space where her mammary ducts should have been. The garment she wore was a long, shapeless thing that hung past her knees and did not allow him the opportunity to properly assess her hips and mammary glands. How was he certain she could bear children if her hip cradle was not the right proportion? And if she could push out his humanoid Glim offspring, how would she feed it without mammary tissue? Dredge was worried she had none, for the garment seemed to drape straight down her body; he’d read such glands were typically large and obvious, frequently described as ‘mounds.’

  Of course, he’d commit himself to a dud.

  The crowd pushed forward once more. He’d been so busy analyzing the female on stage that he hadn’t been paying attention to the bidding. Hearing a number called, he offered significantly higher. To his chagrin, his competitor, a large green blob with four eyes and twice as many arms, outbid him.

  Dredge countered with an even higher bid, calculating in his mind the ultimate threshold he could afford. When the green blob outbid him for the second time, Dredge shouted out his threshold figure.

  The crowd grew blessedly still and quiet. All the creatures in attendance turned to him. He looked up and found the Earth woman’s eyes boring into his.

  His throat grew tight, and his air sacks struggled to fill. He looked away from her, raising his arm so the auctioneer could scan his bidder’s badge from across the crowd. A wide red fan of light shone forth and drenched the crowd until it arrived at his badge and beeped twice, removing the bid amount from his credits.

  Dredge smiled seeing the red light rushing toward him; it felt like a sign from his gods, as if they were telling him his coupling with his Earth woman would be fruitful and produce a female Glim, for all female Glims were born red.

  The Earth woman’s eyes were wide as a Ceph slithered a tentacle around her waist and carried her from the stage in Dredge’s direction.

  The Ceph deposited the Earthling woman at his feet.

  Dredge screwed up his brows, his nose twitching at the woman’s smell. Distasteful.

  When the Ceph went to stomp away, Dredge called out to it. “Aren’t you going to take her to my rooms?”

  The Ceph turned its giant black eyeball at him and blinked. “Your property is your responsibility.”

  Uncomfortable.

  “Is this one combative?” Dredge asked, loathing the prospect of having to drag her all the way through the Hub. What if she broke free from him? What if she fled? Sure, he could catch her with little problems, but he would have to be rough with her. Grab her, maybe even throw her to the ground. How easy was it to damage one of these creatures? He’d just paid the price for four or five potential breeders . . . he’d hate to waste resources by damaging her fragile vessel.

  “We ionized
one in front of her. I do not think she will be a problem. She knows what happens to those who run.”

  Dredge sighed. That sounded all good and well coming from the Ceph, but he wasn’t going to allow his investment to be reduced to a pile of ash.

  “All the same,” he said looking at the Ceph sharply, “do you have a secure pod or vehicle which I can use to transport her back to my rooms?”

  The Ceph grunted, a strange sound coming from the hidden beak mouth tucked under its large eye. “Fine,” it replied. “But only because you paid in excess.”

  Dredge nodded in thanks, watching the Ceph stomp away to retrieve the required equipment.

  He looked down at the Earth woman before him. Her face was crusted in something dark red, almost brown.

  “Are you hurt?” Dredge asked, lifting a hand to touch the dried fluid on her forehead. He’d read this species bleeds red.

  The Earth woman flinched when his fingers brushed her skin, drawing back. Dredge lowered his hand. “Are you hurt?” he asked again.

  She stared at him for a moment before lowering her eyes and then promptly raising them again.

  Dredge creased his brows. “Can you not understand me? I was told you would be ready for purchase . . . You should have a Universal Language Translator chip.”

  “I . . . I understand you,” said the woman softly. She wrapped her arms protectively over her middle.

  Dredge smiled. This was a good sign. He’d not even planted a Glimling in her womb, and already she was showing signs of protecting her reproductive organs. Wonderful. Perhaps he’d not purchased a dud after all.

  The Ceph returned with a small metal box. Dredge pressed the button on top, and from the small metal cube emerged a large cylindrical bubble, the barrier made of reinforced plasma.

  “Get in,” Dredge said, making sure to keep his tone firm but kind.

  The Earthling shook her head, taking a step back.

  Dredge sighed. He didn’t want to frighten her. He’d hoped she would be willing to help him produce little Glimlings. The prospect of having to forcefully implant his seed against her will made Dredge feel . . . ill. It was a sensation he’d scarcely experienced before, but he knew without a doubt that the thought of forcing himself on the tiny creature before him would be unpleasant and wrong.

  “Please,” Dredge said again, this time in a softer tone he hoped was more encouraging.

  Again, the Earth woman shook her head.

  “Now!” thundered the Ceph behind her.

  The woman squeaked and jumped into the bubble.

  “Thank you,” Dredge said to the Ceph as it stomped away, hefting one tentacle into the air in acknowledgement.

  Dredge waved his hand over the entrance to the bubble, sealing it. The Earth woman began to scream, but the plasma contained her sounds. Her fists beat wildly on the barrier, her eyes wide and wet.

  Turning his back to her, Dredge began making his way out of the auction crowd, knowing the plasma cylinder carrying the woman who would save his species would follow close behind him. He’d been the one to press the button after all, the needle pricking his finger and taking in some of his life fluid. It would be his DNA and his alone that could free her from the transport pod.

  Chapter 3

  Samantha

  The silvery blue creature who had purchased her was tall, easily six and half feet. Thick cords of muscle coiled around his arms. His shoulders were broad, his neck thick. His strange bluish skin stretched across his washboard abs and pectorals. And, most importantly, he was naked.

  He had his back to her now, somehow commanding the strange bubble she was in to follow behind him. But Samantha remembered the sight of the massive thing that hung between his legs, and she wanted to scream.

  So, she did.

  She beat her fists on the sides of the bubble, but the action did nothing. The walls flexed outward under her touch. There would be no breaking these walls.

  She sat on the floor of the pod, staring down. A perverse desire to look without, to see where he was taking her, to see where she was, tugged at her mind. She squashed the desire.

  No, she had to put all her energy into how she would get herself out of this mess. And what a damn mess it was.

  Samantha chewed at her nails, a bad habit she never seemed to be able to break. A thought came to her. She scrabbled onto her knees and peered through the bubble. Yep. The alien who’d bought her was completely naked, his well sculpted buttocks barely a foot away from her face, just past the this weird-ass wall of stuff. Good. If he was naked, he had nowhere to hide a weapon.

  She sank back onto the floor and closed her eyes, struggling to develop a plan. A good one. Bad ones included jumping on him as soon as he freed her from the bubble. She couldn’t take on a human man that size, and this alien bastard was probably much stronger than a human man would be.

  She could run, but she had no clue where she would go. Even if this weird congregation of creatures was only floating above Earth – which she highly doubted because some country’s military would have tried to blow it up by now – she’d have no why to get back to Earth.

  Science hadn’t been her best subject in school, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she could just . . . what? Jump into open space and then crash-land somewhere on Earth? Maybe right back into her own bed, with her fat cat Simon waiting for her?

  No.

  No air in space, and the heat her body would generate when entering the atmosphere would reduce her to less than ash by the time she got anywhere close to the surface. She knew that much.

  The next shitty plan she thought of was killing herself before he even pulled her from the bubble, but how would she do it?

  She stopped chewing at her nail and rubbed one finger shakily over her canines. She could bite her own wrists, she supposed. But that would probably hurt like a bitch, and there was no telling how long it would take to bleed out from such a thing.

  What if the silvery blue man tried to save her, tried to protect his purchase? She sneered at the thought, at being reduced to a product, something someone could pay for and own.

  And, most importantly, killing herself would go against her entire motivation to escape.

  It was true that she didn’t want to be raped by the gargantuan alien with his fearsomely large cock, but more than that, Samantha wanted to live. She had a life back home in Dallas. Sure, her friends had all moved off after college and her only consistent friend was Simon the Fat Ass Cat, but damn it, it was her life. She wanted to keep it.

  The pod slowed and then came to a complete stop.

  Samantha looked up to see that they were facing a plain metal wall. The pale blue-skinned alien lifted his hand and pressed it against the wall. Moments later the metal beneath his hand began to glow green, and a panel opened in the wall in front of them.

  When the bubble was safely in the room, the alien closed the panel and then came to stand before her.

  She turned her head, for his penis was hovering directly in front of her field of vison. He stepped over and crouched down, so she could see his face. His mouth began to move. Samantha furrowed her brow. Surely, he knew she couldn’t hear him.

  As if reading her mind, he smiled and stretched his arm out, waving his hand in front of the bubble.

  Shit. What if he could read minds?

  She’d not considered that before. A cold sweat broke out all over her body. If he could read minds, every thought she’d had, every plan both shitty and decent she’d made, was ruined already before she’d even tried.

  The opening appeared in the bubble once more, and Samantha leapt out.

  “Can you read minds?” she blurted out and then mentally kicked herself. Stupid. If he didn’t know she knew he could read minds, she could have somehow used that against him. Made a plan by misleading him with false thoughts. Way to give away your only weapon, Sam.

  The alien stood to his full height, and Samantha looked away again. He chuckled, and Samantha was surprised to
find that the sound was actually . . . pleasant.

  All those True Crime documentaries she’d spent hours binge watching flew to the surface of her mind. This alien was handsome, with a deep, almost sexy voice. He was almost . . . charming. Just like Paul John Knowles and Ted Bundy, her mind whispered.

  She planted her feet firmly on the ground and put her hands on her hips, trying to look as big as possible. “Well?” she said. “I asked you a question.”

  The alien laughed again. “You are a strange thing. Are all females in your species this inconsistent? Just moments before you were crying and screaming, now your posture suggests you want to fight me.”

  Samantha’s arms dropped. So, he could read minds then.

  The alien’s smile faded. “Don’t look defeated, Earth woman. Your attempts at intimidation were admirable.”

  Samantha took in a sharp breath. Was this blue fucker . . . mocking her?

  She didn’t know if the fact that he looked like any other guy back on Earth – barring the blue skin, of course – helped give her false bravado in that moment or what. But Samantha threw herself at him.

  She balled up her fists and beat against his large chest, but he just stood there staring down at her. When that didn’t produce the result she wanted, she opened her hands and began to lash out at him, determined to claw his flesh away, to maul him like some savage beast.

  At last, one of her jagged, freshly-bitten nails broke the skin on his chest.

  She smiled triumphantly, but her smile quickly faded. No blood oozed out like she’d hoped. Instead, a bright beam of light shone through the scratch.

  Samantha backed away, horrified.

  “You . . . you don’t bleed?” she asked, not expecting a real answer. Why would this creature tell her if he bled or not? That would just give her more information. Information she could use to try to kill him. Maybe he knew that. Of course he knew that; he could read minds, right?