Obedient
Freedom and a child are all she wants, but an ancient dragon has other ideas. He wants in on the list.
Zelia lives a predictable life until she helps some of the members of the Volunteer Centre avoid a gunman. Her reward is a one-way trip to the stars to have the child that she wants with the freedom to raise it in a safe and quiet environment.
She is altered to make a suitable host for the new life and deposited on the surface of a nameless world where a home and supplies are waiting for her. Her days are relaxed and comfortable, and her nights are filled with alien songs.
Rad has been waiting for centuries to meet his mate, and to have her arrange to carry his child before they had even met goes against Drai customs. He is willing to adapt as long as she will accept his protection in a world chosen as her home.
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Obedient
Copyright © 2015 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0324-9
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Obedient
Terran Times Second Wave
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
“Clear the table, Zelia.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and continued to bus the tables. “Yes, Dad.”
The diner door chimed, and she grabbed two menus.
“Go bring menus to the customers, Zelia.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Zelia brought the menus to the newcomers, and she filled their glasses with water. “Good evening. Today’s special is a BLT with fries and a bowl of tomato soup.”
They nodded and opened their menus.
Zelia moved around the diner, clearing tables and tending to customers. It was what she did every day and every night.
Her parents left at eight, and she was on her own with Dave manning the grill until two in the morning.
Midnight arrived, and she lifted the receiver the moment that the phone rang. “Thimble’s Diner.”
“Good evening, Zelia. I would like the usual, please.”
“I will deliver it in thirty minutes.”
“Thank you. I will meet you at the front door.”
She smiled and headed to the back. Dave had left for his usual hooker break, so Zelia was free to put together dinner for the evening shift at the Volunteer Centre.
Every night, she delivered a meal to the agents who were going through all of the applications. It was routine, but she always waited until she was called.
She prepped jalapeno and bacon macaroni and cheese, three cheeseburgers, a platter of nachos, four salads and a pie with a side of ice cream.
Everything was ready to travel when Dave came in through the back door.
“Another evening call out?”
Zelia smiled. “I am going to deliver it.”
Dave sighed. “You know how your father feels about that place.”
“I know, but he just said that their staff couldn’t come in here, he never said I couldn’t go there.” She picked up the bags and headed out to the front, flipping the sign to say that she would be back in ten minutes.
Everything but the float was in the drop safe and the float was in her apron. There was nothing in the building to steal. She wasn’t risking anything but the glass.
Zelia walked down the street and counted her steps. Two hundred twenty steps brought her right to the front of the Volunteer Centre.
Domas smiled at her through the glass. He opened the door for her. “Please come in.”
Zelia nodded and walked past him, setting her bags on the counter. “There you go. How is the haul today?”
Agent Domas chuckled. “It is slim pickings this evening. Many Terrans seem to consider this as some sort of vacation and not a lifestyle. Around the globe, there are several centres that have been forced to close with not enough interest. Even their governments can’t make them apply.”
She unpacked the meal and smiled at Domas. “Fifty-two fifty, please.”
He handed her the money, and she gave him the receipt. “You are one of the only places who will deliver to us.”
“I know. I hope the food is good.”
“The food is great. I just wish that we could order a simple pizza without it making a scene.”
She tucked the money into her apron and inclined her head. “Have a good evening.”
Domas nodded and walked her to the door. “Are you sure I cannot walk you back to the diner?”
“Not yesterday and not today.”
She winked and headed into the brisk night air as he locked the door behind her.
Her sneakers made no sounds on the pavement as she counted back to two hundred twenty.
She eased into the diner, flipped the sign back to OPEN and rang up the sale in the register before continuing her endless round of cleaning.
It was the same as every night before it, and Zelia Thimble worked until two, and then, she returned to the family home, tiptoeing up to her room. She would have to shower in the morning. She wasn’t allowed to shower and wake everyone up.
Later in the week, there was a shift in the schedule. For a change, she didn’t walk the path alone. A man approached the Volunteer Centre, and she saw him lift the shotgun before he arrived at the door.
Zelia dropped the bags and reached into the bag for the tomato soup. It was as hot as she could get it, and she aimed high as she threw it at the man with the gun.
He swung toward her, and then, he screamed as the scalding soup struck his face. His finger spasmed and the gun went off.
Zelia felt a slight burn on her arm and ribs. It was too dark to see, but she thought she might have caught some of the shot.
Domas confined the man and kicked the gun away. “Are you all right?”
“I will be fine. I am sure. I dropped the food, but it should still be edible.”
Another agent came out and confined the attacker.
Domas came over to her, “Soup isn’t part of the normal order.”
She sighed. “I was trying to give you a new flavour. I just hate it when soup cools before you can eat it. I am guessing I overheated it.”
Sirens sounded and the police were getting close. “I should get back to the diner.”
Domas scowled. “You need to remain here as a witness.”
She chuckled as she turned and walked away. “You know where to find me.”
It took her twenty minutes to get the bleeding to stop. Removing the shot hurt like hell. Dave was no use. For a man who handled raw meat, he couldn’t stand the sight of blood.
Zelia lifted her head when she heard voices. She was applying pressure to her ar
m when she crept around the corner to see three police officers, two agents and a definite alien.
“Hello? How may I help you?”
Domas hissed and stepped toward her. “You said you were fine.”
She moved away from him. “I said I would be fine. I was very specific.”
The alien was small, silver and had huge black eyes. “You require medical attention.”
“Probably. I will go to emergency when I have closed up. What did you need?”
One of the officers nodded. “We need a statement, but we will wait until you have had medical treatment.”
She winced. “Fine. Let’s take this to the hospital. I think I just started bleeding again.”
Her arm was covered with finely painted crimson lines. Each of the nine holes in her bicep made its own track. The three in her ribs were soaking the front of her shirt.
Zelia stepped forward, and the six men moved to help her. She held up a hand. “Just get me to the hospital, and while they are cleaning this up, anyone can ask me anything they want.”
She was escorted to the hospital in the back of a dark SUV. She handed over her insurance card when she registered, and she dug into her pocket to remove the shot she had collected.
X-rays were taken, and four more pellets were found in her body. When they started the stitches, the police asked her, “Why were you there?”
She grimaced. “I was delivering the meal to the agents working to process the day’s applications. No one in the area will deliver to them, so I have been running deliveries to them for the last six weeks.”
“What happened?”
She explained about seeing the man, him lifting a shotgun and her grabbing the soup.
The rest was self-explanatory.
The doctor shook his head as he listened to her story. “That must have been quite the soup.”
“No one has ever shot me over it before.” She winced. It was not a good idea to make your doctor chuckle.
The alien observed all of this with his agents at his sides. When she was sitting back and waiting to be discharged, he came to her. “Have you applied to be a Volunteer?”
She chuckled and shook her head. “No. From what I have heard, you don’t offer what I want.”
He smiled and stepped toward her. “What do you want?”
“I want to be alone and I want to have a baby. No man, no drama, just me and a child with no one to bother us or give us orders. That doesn’t seem to be in any of the advertising.”
He cocked his head. “Let me look into it. In the meantime, thank you for the service you rendered to us today.”
“You are very welcome. It was nice to meet you, Recruiter.”
He inclined his head formally, and he and the others left the room.
She was discharged an hour later, and she left the hospital with a slow and steady walk while the sun flirted with the horizon. Ten blocks to home and she crept up the stairs the moment her parents came out of their bedroom.
“Zelia, why are you home so late?” Her mother scowled.
“I had to go to hospital. I got shot. I am going to bed now.”
Her parents’ voices followed her into her bedroom as she slowly closed the door. They didn’t want answers; they wanted to know if she would be ready for work that afternoon. She honestly didn’t know.
Chapter Two
Zelia moved through the tables with care, trying not to pull her stitches. Her parents micromanaged as always, and she was used to the crowds by now.
While her father was upset that she hadn’t cleaned up the night she had been shot, he loved the extra attention and business that resulted. Seven days after the incident and she was just about ready to have the stitches removed, and she was more than ready to have everything back to normal.
Domas had taken to coming to the diner in the evenings. He picked up the order with Yassur acting as burger security. Every night, he asked her how she was doing, and every night, she said she was fine.
The crowd around her held their breath every time the Tival agents of the Alliance entered the diner. It was the closest that most would get to an actual alien even if they looked nearly human. Zelia guessed that the crowd was hoping for the recruiter.
When she was finally free of the stitches, Domas passed her a note with the money for the food. It requested her presence at the Volunteer Centre at five minutes after two.
She smiled and handed Domas his change. “Good night.”
He winked and headed out the door, back to the storefront of the Volunteer Centre.
After the alien sighting, the rest of the crowd thinned out rapidly. Zelia began her cleaning routine, and by the time the last customer was gone, she was ready to attend to her meeting.
She hung up her apron, said goodnight to Dave and turned out the lights. She locked the front of the diner and headed down the street.
Two hundred twenty steps took her to the centre, and Domas opened the door to let her in, locking it once she was inside.
“Recruiter Norz has worked hard on your little request, and he would like to speak with you about it.”
She nodded. “I thought that might be it.”
He led her into the depths of the facility, and she was surprised. She had thought it was just the front offices and not the warren of halls behind and underneath.
Domas escorted Zelia into an office where the recruiter was pouring a cup of coffee for her.
His hand wobbled, and she quickly moved to take the pot from him. “Please excuse me, but I am only up for half a cup today.”
She set the pot down softly and took up the cup of coffee with a smile.
He blinked his wide lids and nodded. “I am not used to this new beverage. The canisters of caf are much lighter, as you will see.”
She sipped at one of the most monumentally bad cups of coffee and smiled at him. “Will I?”
“Yes. I have found you a situation that will fit all of your requirements. I believe that you would thrive in that environment. There are other folk on that world, but they are distant and would not interfere with you, but they would give you an outlet if you needed assistance.”
“You are serious. You found me an empty world.”
He rocked his head slightly. “Almost empty.”
She sipped at the horrible coffee. “What about the other matter? What about a baby?”
“That is underway. You sign this contract and you will be on the way to the lunar base tonight.”
She cocked her head. “Why so quickly?”
“You have gained notoriety, and there is a plot to kill you for your alien-loving tendencies. We have stopped two attempts so far, but your life is in danger and Domas can’t keep watch for much longer. He’s getting tired.”
Zelia blinked. “Oh. What do you need me to do?”
He shook his head in wonder. “Sign this?”
A tablet slid across the table, and she signed the box marked for her signature after quickly reading it. She pressed her thumb where it said to press her thumb, and she passed it back.
“You don’t have any questions?”
Zelia shook her head. “I can have what I want and I don’t have to go back to the diner. Anything new is good.”
He blinked. “Well, that is wonderful. Domas will take you to the launch site, and you will be on your way.”
Zelia finished her horrid coffee and put the cup down. “I noticed a medical provision in the contract. What does that refer to?”
“Well, to carry the child we have lined up for you, you need to be altered a little. Your body isn’t quite the right PH balance for the species we are dealing with.”
She cocked her head. “What is the species?”
He grinned. “You have not heard of it. Not yet. That will wait until you are in the lunar base and possibly in the tank. You are very trusting.”
She shook her head. “I am not. Not really. I evaluate every situation
on a minute-by-minute basis and make the right choice for my survival. Sometimes, I override that impulse, but generally, if someone is going to give me directions, it is in my best interest to follow orders.”
“What happens when you are on your own?”
Zelia grinned. “I can’t wait to find out.”
She travelled with no luggage, no clothing other than her uniform. She was inside a small pod and without any exterior or interior lighting. Gel supports surrounded her head and body as she rocked up and out of the atmosphere.
Zelia kept her breathing calm. She was good at keeping calm. When her parents screamed at her, she had learned that keeping calm was the fastest way to wear them out and knowing what she was supposed to do and doing it before they managed to get worked up. It was an excellent survival technique.
She could see the lunar base through the small viewing window in the pod. The light from the structure looked warm and inviting on the cold surface.
Domas had mentioned that they hadn’t quite perfected the catch mechanism for the one-man pod. Zelia might end up skidding across the surface for a few hundred yards, but they would bring her inside in one piece.
She held to the handrails on the interior of the pod as she got closer and closer to the surface. The pod rattled and twisted as it approached the silver, dusty soil. Zelia could see the pod zone, and she tried to steer the pod with her mind. She hit the drop site and to her horror, she bounced.
Screaming was an option, but she held still and moved with the pod as it struck and bounced along the crater. It was the worst carnival ride ever. She rocked and clenched her teeth until she skidded to a stop.
A rhythmic chirp began to sound behind her head. Zelia really hoped it was a beacon and not an oxygen alert.
Ten minutes after she landed, a vehicle picked her up. It went up on projections and lowered itself over her in a reverse chicken-and-egg move.