March 3rd, 2024

Scarlett

Our party ship was nothing compared to the cruiser that the computerized Qarri had. As in, it was small compared to the loading bay it was parked in. I could tell that the ship was made for far more than the one thousand Qarri that were picked up from the planet. There were some robots to help with the maintenance tasks, but otherwise everyone had to pitch in to help wherever they could. Seeing the robots made me seethe because they reminded me that I was abducted just to make a profit. The Qarri weren’t opposed to robots, they just wanted to make money on the slave market. But then another thought crossed my mind. One I didn’t want to think about but made sense now. Did the Qarri attempt to sell me at the Qasan Station slave market since Quentin was traveling through there? It was an odd thought, but one that the computerized Qarri could’ve set up if he wanted to.

It then brought up another thought. Were they going to force me to marry Quentin if the media didn’t get in their way? The Roqar, the new term I’ll refer to the computerized Qarri as, said they planned to turn me into a mutant first and would’ve moved onto Quentin if they didn’t tip anyone off. They said that I wasn’t a prototype, but the first true model. They always planned to have me this way, but they wanted him more. If it was the case, then it was awfully ironic that we ended up as a couple anyways. Did they know about our personality compatibility, or were they banking on something else? Whatever the case, now I was surrounded by the same species that stole my humanity.

While I was getting used to the idea that I’ll look like a foxwoman forever, it didn’t mean that I was fine with what they did. It seriously threw a wrench into my life plans as I now had to deal with not looking human. While I may eventually be accepted, there were some people who wouldn’t. With strangers, it was inevitable. There were always those who would never accept anything strange. But the most painful one was my family.

Ever since the day I learned I’d be like this forever, I started doing the simulations as my foxwoman self. While the reintroduction to my parents went well during the simulation, it was just that, it was a simulation. We programmed the version of my parents that I remembered from my childhood. Which meant it was likely wildly inaccurate. It only contained the good aspects while neglecting their flaws. For all I knew, they could’ve been robber barons and I didn’t catch onto it.

There was one person that I was angry at, though. It was Amanda. It was because of her that I got abducted. Ditching me in the woods while she hung out with her boyfriend, she enabled the aliens to get me. I couldn’t blame her for that one, in truth, since she had no idea aliens existed. However, she did know that creepy people and wild animals existed. I could’ve ended up as coyote food! I hoped she got her life together or there’ll be some serious explaining.

I was knocked out of my pondering by a plate being placed on my side of the table. “Here’s your meal, Miss Scarlett Rose Campbell,” the waiter robot said before rolling back into the kitchen. I looked down and saw the tastiest meal imaginable. A big juicy steak was set before me with great seasoning and amazing smell. A loaded baked potato sat on the side and some green beans were on the other side, just to make sure I got some vegetables.

Quentin looked at me with a smile and said, “Here’s the fulfillment of my promise. A nice ribeye steak. While probably not up to the standards my local steakhouse had, the Qarri informed me that beef was a specialty in the galaxy. Hence why they kept abducting cows.”

“Thank you,” I said as I looked back at him. “I’ve never tasted some before, but it smells delicious.”

“Enjoy,” he replied before taking a bite out of the burger he got. He smiled as it seemed he enjoyed his meal.

I cut a square off the steak and took a cautious bite out of it. An explosion of flavor greeted my mouth as I was filled with joy. It was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. Sure, it was because of the Qarri inadvertently altered my taste buds, but it didn’t make it wrong to enjoy it. The tenderness and juiciness of it was heavenly. If this was what food on Earth was going to taste like, then all was right in the world.

Quentin laughed, which made me glare at him. But he knew it wasn’t a serious one. He teased, “Enjoying your food, aren’t you? Here we see the giant fox in its natural environment. Eating its recent kill.”

I teased back, “And here we see the American in his natural environment, eating a burger in one hand while holding a soda with the other.” We both laughed at that joke. I knew that one could hit me again later, but it was still funny.

“Touché,” he replied before calming down. He looked at my steak and asked, “Can I get a piece?”

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“Only if I get a bite of that burger,” I replied before cutting a piece of my steak. He cut a piece of his burger as well. I grabbed the steak piece with my fork and held it out to him. He attempted to grab it with his finger, to which I shook my head. “No. Let’s do this romantically. You eat off of my fork while I eat off of yours.”

He looked at me with a horrified expression. I gave a puzzled face back as I attempted to find out why it shocked him. “I didn’t think it was that serious. Not to the level of marriage or something like that. Is it because of having a fox face? I thought you got over that,” I threw in the air, to which he shook his head to all of them.

“No,” he explained as he looked at his fork, “do you know how much bacteria are in the human mouth? It’s gross that couples do it since they’re essentially sharing germs!”

I chuckled at his response. It was just like him to be hung up over something minor like that. “Honey, that’s what the immune system is for,” I replied before holding my fork up again. I waved it along with the steak on it in front of his face. “Eat it. I know you want to.” He sighed before taking a bite out of my steak. A big smile graced my muzzle as he did so.

His face switched from disgust to joy as he savored the taste of the meat. After a minute, he swallowed and gave a thumbs up. “It’s good,” he said, “for alien and robotic chefs. I’ve had better, but I enjoy it.” He then held the burger piece out on a fork, and I took a bite out of it.

“Juicy and meaty, just how I like it,” I replied as I chewed it around. It was awful manners, but who was going to chew me out. My boyfriend had his elbows on the table while the Qarri in the restaurant were loud eaters. I swallowed the piece and said, “I love how the bacon and ranch enhanced the flavor. And the cheese was perfect.”

He shrugged and said, “I had better.” He then looked around before leaning towards me and whispering, “Between you and me, I had to tell the chefs to avoid some of the oddities that they attempted to put into our food. Otherwise, that baked potato would’ve had alien insects in it.” I looked at my baked potato and nodded. It seemed that they needed guides to keep the food authentic.

The rest of the meal was good. We placed our plates to the side as Quentin paid at the front. I looked at him and asked, “Should we leave a tip?”

He shook his head and explained, “You only leave a tip if it was a person that gave you the service. Since it was a non-sapient robot, you don’t need to pay it. It’s simply doing what it was programmed to do. Besides, it would only go to the owners of this establishment.” He then left once he was done, leaving me at the table.

I was about to go back into thought as the serving robot rolled back up with a chocolate-covered cheesecake. It placed it in front of me before announcing, “Happy twenty-fifth birthday, Scarlett! I’m sorry I couldn’t celebrate your birthday on that day. Here’s a cake for you and I hope you’ll enjoy it. From, Quentin.” The robot then rolled off after relaying the message.

I sighed as I took a bite of it. It was great, but I ultimately felt sad. He was always at training since we were picked up. While I was going through a fast-paced college education of my own, he seemed to be stressed more than I was. I knew why. Unlike my business education that only the fate of the company depended on, he was training to be a general and admiral. If he made a mistake, people would die. Malgorth was our mistake, and he wouldn’t forget it.

I finished my cheesecake and walked out of the restaurant. The place was spartan and unpleasing to look at. Dull grays covered the walls and floors of the cruiser as a few Qarri walked by. I was never going to get used to them. While I didn’t have an overwhelming hatred of them, they were still the ones who took my humanity. I knew it was a horrible attitude to have. But it was a hard one to fight.

I walked onto the observation deck and noticed Gruma staring at all the stars. She stood with her mouth open as she leaned against the railing. I walked next to her and leaned on the railing as well. “Enjoying the view?” I asked as I looked. It was a beautiful sight, but being trapped in space for over a decade kind of faded the appeal.

“It’s so beautiful. Back on Besmen, I wouldn’t have known how massive space was. It’s absolutely massive. A bit too big. I miss my home. This is no place for a Taraxian. The concepts here are far beyond what I can comprehend. How is Quentin faring so well?” she replied.

I chuckled. “He’s such a nerd! He understands a lot of the concepts even if he doesn’t understand how it works. To him, this is a dream come true! He often tells me about how some things resemble episodes of different science fiction properties. And sometimes, he’ll purposefully act like a stereotypical starship captain from old science fiction franchises. He’s Quentin, Protector of Earth. I decided to give myself a nickname as well: Space Ranger Scarlett. So if we are in a position to organize Earth’s Space Force, know they’ll have tacky outfits straight out of a comic book. If everyone looks like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, you know who to blame.”

“Who’s Flash Gordon?” Gruma asked as she looked at me. I should’ve known better than to reference Earth media. But I guess the fact the references were understood by Quentin and Harry meant I would overestimate their effectiveness.

“Just a hero from some old comic strips. I swear, I didn’t know about it before joining up with Quentin. He’s turning me into a nerd. Yet, I’m not that upset. I enjoy those movies and am now looking forward to the comics he was going to show me. What it shows is that while I’m burnt out on being in space, I’m reading to enjoy some peace and normalcy in my life. Perhaps going to college will be a great experience for me. That’s not to mention if my family accepts me,” I said as I remembered what I was thinking about earlier.

We stared at the stars in silence until Harry came bursting through the doors. Gruma looked at him and asked, “Harry, dear, what’s wrong?” He shook his head and ran up to me. His massive size made it somewhat unnerving, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt me on purpose.

Once he was in front of me, he lowered his built-in SAD to show a live broadcast. At that moment, I knew the entire situation on Earth was changed forever.