Page 2 of The Marriage Bargain
An architect. That’s what I wanted to be. There was certainly a place for it too, with so many buildings going up. At twenty-four, I was well past the age people used to be when they started college. But the world didn’t work the same anymore. Since graduating what school had been offered during the turbulent era of my teen years, with the Asterions reinventing our society, I still lived in a room in my sister’s house, washing dishes at a local eatery during the evenings to make money, and helping my sister raise her growing brood in exchange for a free place to live. I’d been doing this for four years, and had saved barely a fifth of the cost needed to attend an architectural school. That is, if the Overlords would even permit me to go. Human females weren’t exactly welcome.
This wasn’t the life I wanted. It wasn’t the life I’d dreamed about, I thought ruefully, picking macaroni noodles from the floor while my niece turned her cup over and
dumped water onto my head.
Another quiet sigh.
But it was the life I had.
Yay me.
CHAPTER 2
CAIDE
“You want to go get a drink?”
The day’s work had ended here in the compartment chamber, a large room in the builder’s wing of the Castle, set aside for workers to change in and out of their gear, and stow personal belongings while on the job. It contained little besides endless rows of grey compartments—or “lockers,” as the Earthlings called them—and benches. We had endured long hours of dust, dirt, and sweat, despite the coldness of the temperatures. The snow hadn’t become so thick we couldn’t build, so work on the Citadel continued. However, snowflakes were now thickening, as well as growing bigger and bigger as they drifted from the sky. Now, standing in the doorway leading to the outside, my human foreman and friend, Zyn Aishled, eyed the flakes with concern.
“I’d like to,” he said. “But Tarra isn’t feeling well, and Delle is supposed to leave for her shift soon.”
I’d never met Zyn’s family. It was acceptable for humans and Asterions to have some measure of camaraderie on the job, but we rarely socialized outside of the workplace. Humans had their spots to eat, drink, and socialize—few and scattered as the places were. The Asterions had ours. Generally, we did not mingle beyond the job. We Overlords saw ourselves as set apart from our colonists, higher ranking and worthy of human reverence. Although I thought the Earthlings appreciated our help in some ways…well, nobody liked being told what to do. Not even me. Which was why I was here, on Earth, rather than living in my father’s shadow on my home planet.
“I understand,” I told him, not wishing to cause trouble.
Truth be told, I could drink at the Citadel with the Asterion officers or Overlords. I could drink with my own work crew. By virtue of my position as the Construction Manager for the massive building project of the Citadel, as well as my bloodlines as the bastard son of an Asterion noble, any of my fellow Overlords would socialize with me. But interactions with my own kind often left a sour taste in my mouth. I’d fled to Earth to build my own life, not keep getting tangled up in the politics of my home planet. Forging a new path meant branching out and forming friendships with people like Zyn, the humans with whom I worked. Sometimes, it also meant lonely evenings at my house, spent in the company of a bottle, because I didn’t care to drink at the Citadel and engage in the latest gossip from Asterion, typically by Asterions who hated Earth and longed for home.
“I’m already late,” Zyn went on, a little soberly. “Tarra’s probably ready to kill me by now. If she isn’t too sick, that is. And Delle will either be gone or rushing out the door by the time I get back. Why don’t you come over? I can’t promise anything besides three kids and my sick wife, who will probably go hide in another room to avoid the smells of dinner as soon as I step foot inside the door. But I’ll serve you a drink. You can relax while I feed the kids and clean up their messes.”
He said it with a chuckle, like he was making a joke. As if the idea of his Asterion boss actually being part of such a scene was preposterous. He seemed a little shocked when I instantly replied, “Thank you for the invitation. I’ll gladly accept.”
My human foreman’s eyes widened a bit. “You will?”
“I will,” I said. “I’ve a few forms to sign before I can leave, but my transport should allow me to arrive shortly after you do. I hastened to add, “Unless you did not mean your offer. If my presence puts you in a difficult position…”
“Oh no, I—I meant it,” he stuttered. “I just didn’t think you’d want to come, that’s all. Didn’t figure anybody would be interested in coming over for…uh…for that.”
Now he seemed halfway embarrassed. I couldn’t fathom why. Life was life and, truth be told, I somewhat envied that of Zyn. He had a female he loved, who was about to bear him his fourth daughter. That fact alone might cause any Asterion male to envy him.
Asterion was a planet ravaged by a peculiar problem, one that affected several in our galaxy. More than a century ago a plague was borne to Asterion and its neighbors, one blamed on the boundless sexual appetites of interplanetary males sleeping with a variety of races and sub-races. Males didn’t seem to be affected, becoming asymptomatic carriers and transmitting the disease to their unsuspecting female partners, who soon began to exhibit strange symptoms: boils, fevers, chills. In the beginning, with no knowledge of cause or effective treatment, the plague progressed rapidly. The boils ruptured, spreading infection. The fever worsened to raging temperatures that caused hallucinations. In its final stages, the afflicted became so weak they couldn’t walk and, ultimately, succumbed to the sickness.
Both physicians and scientists had worked tirelessly to discover the source of the plague and how to treat it. Alas, by the time its origin was traced and remedies were created, a great number of females across more than a score of planets had fallen ill and passed away, taking with them an entire generation of children, born and unborn.
In the end, many of the females who did survive the plague were rendered sterile. The population of every planet stricken by the plague had dwindled dangerously during the years following the initial spread. Generations later, there remained a disproportionate ratio of males to females across our planets. Solutions were needed, and the Interplanetary Coalition saw Earth as a tremendous one.
The humans didn’t know it, but the real reason behind the Interstellar Coalition’s unique division of Earth, with each of the twelve planets claiming a portion, was because of this planet’s severe deprivation of males due to their terrible Final War. A severe deprivation of males…and an overpopulation of females. Of which many realms in the galaxy were in desperate need.
All of that was at the core of the Coalition’s takeover, but had been kept in the background for the past decade or more. Nevertheless, as our need grew and life on Earth stabilized due to the Coalition’s influence, that real reason was becoming apparent. Zyn didn’t know what I did—since my fellow Overlords talked to me, because of my father’s bloodlines—but Zyn’s family was being watched with great interest.
Four daughters. A wife with the potential to produce more. Twenty years from now, four potential mates for four Overlords.
That was the Coalition’s thinking, not mine.
I mentioned none of this to my human friend. Instead, I said, “I have spent many a quiet night in my own quarters at the Citadel. I wouldn’t mind getting out for a change. Nor would I mind the noise of children. It must be better than hours of silence.”
Zyn cast me a strange look as he moved from the doorway to hang up his hard hat and shuck off his safety equipment, stowing it in his locker.
“You’re a single man. Er, Asterion male,” he corrected himself. “Nothing is stopping you from getting out, is it?” Before I could reply, he seemed to rethink what he had said. “Er, sorry. I only meant, from my perspective, you don’t have a wife and kids keeping you at home. Er, not that I meant mine keep me at home. They do, but it’s good. It’s all good. It’s just—I guess—every now and then, I wouldn’t mind a quiet evening out drinking. You know?”