Alien's Bride: Lisette (4 page)

In a single day they had a working
antidote that might be the cure to the defect. He’d never seen so
much progress in such a short time. With Lisette around he was no
longer putting in a minimal effort. Her enthusiasm was
infectious—reinvigorating him. They proceeded the whole day as if
dealing with an emergency. Both he and Lisette raced around the
lab, yelling to each other, and getting things done.

It took very little training for her to
learn to follow their methods. Technology had changed from what
she’d had on Earth, but physiology was a constant. Lisette knew
what answers she needed from the specimens to get the right
solution. All she needed was guidance on how to use the robots and
equipment. Her base knowledge was solid, and her
intuition—remarkable.

More testing was needed on the
antidote. Still, by the end of the day they had something tangible.
Something that would lead them to the answer if it wasn’t the
answer itself. Prax-Denay patted her on the back with
vigor.

“
Good, girl. Good, girl!
You’re proving yourself invaluable.”

Lisette giggled.

This caused a shiver down Prax-Denay’s
spine that he’d never felt before. He caught himself looking at her
smile—and then being enchanted by it. It was no wonder the druid
Shindray put so many restrictions on women. The creatures could
worm their way into your thoughts with so little effort.

“
If we work through the
night we can get the serum ready for the first hybrid trial,”
Prax-Denay said. “Are you up for it?”

Lisette smiled and nodded. Then her
stomach growled.

“
Mm, yes. First let’s break
for dinner. I bet you haven’t eaten since the flight from Earth.
Let’s share a meal in the kitchen. I’d like to know more about your
professional background.”

Lisette smiled at him so sweetly. She
was like a happy child, but then she demurred, wet her lips, and
lowered her head. Prax-Denay felt a twinge in his middle. Was this
some sophisticated robot specially programmed to make him fall in
love with her? She seemed to know just the faces to make, the timid
gestures—all of it caused his manly, less scientific side to
bristle.

“
Excuse me!”

Lisette made the lab seem light—as if
all the instruments floated a little. As soon as Jorenkis broke in
everything thudded loudly back down. Prax-Denay forced himself to
take a step back away from Lisette. His superior’s snide face told
him the damage was already done.

“
Why are you guys still
working? Has she even seen her apartment upstairs yet?”

“
She’s still working because
we had immensely important things to accomplish.”

“
Oh spare me.” He went to
Lisette and took both her hands into his once again. “He’s treating
you like an Etiken slave. Making you run around like crazy doing
all his busy work, huh? I bet you didn’t even get
lunch.”

Lisette frowned and kept her eyes
downward. Prax-Denay was glad she couldn’t see his anger. One
day…one day he’d slap this child’s smug face.

Jorenkis lifted one of her hands to his
mouth and kissed it. “Don’t worry, dearheart. I’m here to rescue
you.” He tugged her until she started moving toward the exit of the
lab. “First we need to get you cleaned up. Get you some decent
clothes. Get your hair done. Some make up. Then we can go
out.”

Lisette gave Prax-Denay a distressed
look.

“
Jorenkis!”

“
Shut up, Prax! You had her
all day. It’s my turn.”

“
We’re working on something
important, damn it!”

He halted to sneer back at him. “Do it
yourself! She’s been here one day. You’re saying you can’t get any
work done without her now? You’ve worked alone for decades.” He
looked at Lisette. “He’s really, really old, you know
that?”

“
She wants to keep working,
not spend the evening deflecting your advances.”

“
No. She wants to go out to
dinner with me. Don’t you? Don’t you?”

“
Oh…um, well—it’s
just—“

“
Yeah. Exactly. She wants to
come.” He tugged her harder and left.

Prax-Denay stood quivering in anger. He
steadied himself on a molded shelf, then slammed the sample spinner
on it to the floor. A robot zipped over to clean it up.

After the anger came dread, such as
he’d never felt before. If Jorenkis coerced her into bed with him
then they were married. Lisette—with that buffoon—and there would
be nothing he could do.

But then, that was what was supposed to
happen. He had no rights to her. She was not one of his caste.
Jorenkis had claimed her even before she arrived. Prax-Denay placed
his very manhood at risk to ever have any aspirations toward her of
his own.

And yet, he shouldn’t chide himself for
his anger. The genius human deserved better. Perhaps not him, who
was of the lowest caste of Dak-Hiliah, but certainly not Jorenkis
either.

No. He could not be with her as a
husband. He still wanted to be with her as a colleague. At least
that. He even felt like he needed her now.

The final emotion he caved to was
grief. Repugnant self-pitying grief. Tears and snot flowed like
that of a blubbering child. He couldn’t even admit why he grieved.
He was too proud to acknowledge it.

***

Lisette was brought upstairs to what
she presumed was the apartment Jorenkis had mentioned. She thought
it nice to live where she worked. Her heart already ached to be
back in the lab. Her mind was swirling with ideas, some of which
she really needed to write down. She felt as if she floated in a
euphoric haze of specimens and data. Did her room have a bed? A
dresser? If anyone quizzed her later she wouldn’t know the
answers.

Jorenkis sicked robots on her who
forced her out of her science high. They brusquely went about
dressing her and styling her hair. She kept looking at the door
hoping Prax-Denay would put an end to all and get her back to
work.

A robot made her stand in front of a
mirror. The reflection of a stranger looked back at her. Yes, she
still had her glasses, but her hair had been darkened and made
glossy. She wore a red dress that barely hid her breasts and
allowed one thigh to show. Her eyes looked like someone had taken a
black marker and drawn circles around them. Her lips looked like
she’d eaten too many raspberries.

She kept staring trying to find
something to like. The revealing dress was designed for someone
much taller and without a tummy. She was already getting goose
pimples from being too cold and with every movement she’d be
worried a breast would pop out. That’s if she could walk at all.
The robots had her in slippers with heels designed to make her
taller. She felt like she would twist her ankle every time she went
forward.

She got a moth-eaten sweater out of her
laundry bag and pulled it on.

“
No!” Jorenkis came in
without knocking. “Don’t wear that ugly thing.”

Lisette frowned. She felt so much more
decent with it.

“
Come on! Hurry up and take
it off.”

She obeyed.

“
Now you’ve messed up your
hair!”

As a robot came to fix it Jorenkis
picked off her glasses. She reached for them in protest.

“
You can go one night
without these, right? We’ll get you into the surgical unit tomorrow
to get your eyes fixed.”

Lisette suddenly felt like
crying.

“
Perfect!” Jorenkis hooked
his arm in hers. “Now you’re fit to be seen.” He started down the
stairs with her. “Can you suck in your stomach?”

Lisette tried to, but then she saw
Prax-Denay standing to the side of the staircase. The whorishness
of her outfit felt amplified by his gaze. She tried to send an
agonized look to him to say, ‘I didn’t want any of this.’ He shook
his head in disappointment.

For Jorenkis or for her? She felt a
panic attack swelling within her.

As they exited she managed to calm
herself. Of course Prax-Denay knew this was all Jorenkis’ doing.
She didn’t want to eat with him, and certainly she hadn’t primed
herself for him. She wouldn’t have to explain tomorrow. Surely,
Prax-Denay would understand.

They went outside to a waiting hover
car with a robot driver. This transported them a short distance to
a small building standing between two structures that looked
abandoned. An android greeted them at the door and brought them to
the only occupied table in the large dim establishment. Three
Dak-Hiliah men sat at the u-shaped booth: two were much older than
Jorenkis and one looked to be the same age. They stared at Lisette
while whispering to each other. She couldn’t discern the meaning of
their smiles. Their eyes weren’t entirely cruel, but then, they
didn’t seem to be smiling out of happiness. The eldest of the three
was leering.

“
Don’t slouch,” Jorenkis
whispered from the corner of his mouth.

Lisette’s brow furrowed. Was she
slouching? What—did he want her to walk with her boobs thrust out?
Maybe he did, actually. She didn’t change her posture. The hunger
and exhaustion was now hitting her. She felt too cranky to be
intimidated. How long would this stupid date be and how soon could
she get back to work?

Jorenkis clasped hands with each of
them before sliding into the booth. He seemed to be giving her
space to sit next to him, so she did.

“
Well, well, the happy
couple,” the leering one said.

Jorenkis laughed through his nostrils.
An android approached.

“
I’ll have my usual.” He
tapped an invisible button in front of Lisette to light up a
digital menu embedded into the table. “Order whatever you
want.”

Lisette felt a jolt of panic. Yes, she
could read it, but she had no idea what a Creantin Moog or
Double-Henrakka was. It struck her what a rude asshole Jorenkis
was. He was busy asking the others what they were drinking.
Prax-Denay would have given her more regard. Possibly. He was rude
also, but in a more vulnerable curmudgeon sort of way. She already
felt used to it.

“
Um…I don’t know what to
get,” she said to the android.

“
Would you like a sampler,
mistress?”

At least the robots were
nice.

“
Yes. A…big one, maybe?
And…um…I’m thirsty.”

“
Of course, mistress. We’ll
take care of you.” It tapped off her menu and left.

“
Come now, Joren. Introduce
us to your new wife,” the youngest alien said.

“
Her name’s Lisette,” he
said while beaming a smug smile. “She’s the greatest scientist on
Earth. That’s why they placed her in my lab.”

A rotund dark-haired alien with
side-burns and earrings, close to the age of the leering one,
blurted out a laugh. “Saying she’s the greatest scientist on Earth
is hardly a boast. How many Earthlings are even left?”

“
Just about fifty times more
than there are Dak-Hiliah,” Jorenkis said.

“
And how can a woman be the
greatest scientist on Earth?” the youngest one said.

“
I meant the greatest female
scientist on Earth, obviously,” Jorenkis said.

Lisette felt so weary that
she only half-listened. Some of what they said started to
register.
I’m not your wife,
Jorenkis.
She clenched her fist. Oh! If
only she had the nerve to say it!

“
How does planet Paggellatin
suit you, Lisette?” the leering man said. He had white hair that
was fine enough for the blue of his scalp to show through. All
three of them looked at her.

She wet her lips. “I…just got
here.”

“
You haven’t had a chance to
see the sites? Jorenkis must take you.”

“
I wanted to, but that
Etiken sucked her into the lab the moment she got here.”

The one with sideburns tsked. “Poor
girl.”

The youngest one lifted his index
finger. “How did his castration go?”

Lisette’s eyes widened.

“
I don’t want to talk about
it,” Jorenkis said.

The youngest began to laugh. “He didn’t
let you do it, did he?”

“
Forget it!”

I should hope
not
, Lisette thought.

“
Really Tiltawhirl—” the
oldest said.

Tiltawhirl?

“
We’re about to
eat.”

“
I would go to the High
Council if he continues to protest,” the one with the sideburns
said with a scowl. “It’s for her own protection.”

Jorenkis grumbled.

The android guided in a floating tray
with numerous cloche covered dishes. It deposited the plates before
the men first and then arranging numerous large dishes before her.
It lifted each cloche in turn.

“
These are pastries made
from fish, slugs, and mollusks from the Dirhontaneta
Sea.”

A delicious fried scent wafted up.
Lisette’s mouth began to water.

“
These patties are made from
gen-goh beans in three different ways. The green ones are from
under-ripe beans. The maroon ones are from thousand year old beans.
Your beverage is Kel-Kel water which is purified—“