Designed Collision (Shattered Stars Book 3) Read online

  A stranger walks through the woods and offers to take her from her broken world. Hell yes. With conditions.

  With the asteroid looming, she makes a run for a family farm and the animals therein. After the crash with communications cut off, she lives a routine of subsistence and survival with no other soul to speak to.

  When a stranger walks up to her, silver skin and black hair, he introduces himself and offers her a way out. Life in the stars with him. She counters that her animals have to come as well. There is some negotiation, and he agrees to send her a tutor so that this is all done legally. Then, he flies away.

  To her surprise, her hallucination was as good as his word, and she is swept into a world of etiquette, manners, and languages.

  Her life in the stars has a specific pattern. She is a body servant, a bondservant, a companion, and a mistress, but she has to do it all with the same haircut. Tricky stuff.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Designed Collision

  Copyright © 2020 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-989892-04-6

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com, and other ebook sellers.

  Designed Collision

  Shattered Stars Book 3

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Cassandra drove with her heart thudding in her chest. The asteroid was on the way, and she had to get to her uncle’s place. Her parents were worried that the animals would be left unattended now that the farmhands had left.

  Her uncle Castor had bequeathed the use of his sustainable farm to the local college. They had dismissed their students before calling the family to let them know that the farm was now empty. Everyone had been sent home with the threat of disaster looming.

  Cassandra pulled into the drive, punched in the code for the gate, and drove through as it swung open. The normally bustling property was empty of humanity. She took the portable radio with her and found a news station that dispassionately reported the approach of the asteroid.

  She parked in the garage and then headed for the barn. If something bad was going to happen, she wanted the shelter to be an option but didn’t want the stalls to be a trap. The horses and cows remained standing where they were. That wasn’t good.

  She opened all of the shelters to let the animals loose if they felt the urge. Cassandra loaded the food bins for the various animals, made sure that all horses were accounted for, and all goats had access to their kids.

  She checked the wind turbines, checked the solar panels, and went inside the house, turning everything off until she could check on it.

  With the impact imminent, she headed to the cellar, called her parents, and locked herself in.

  She started crying when the walls shook and listened to the radio until it went silent.

  The next morning, she got off the bunk, opened the cellar, and went out to tend the animals and weed the garden. The world may have ended, but she wasn’t dead yet.

  The valley she was in was sheltered and had provisions for months, plus whatever she could salvage from the gardens and fields. The radio was windup and solar, so she would be able to check if there were signals in the air. The silence was unnerving, so she began to sing as she worked. When the animals started to show up as she sang, she laughed, and then, she cried. She was living the life of a cartoon character, but there was little to no chance that prince charming was going to show up. The farm was remote at the best of times, and this was not the best of times.

  Nearly a year and a quarter after the impact, she knew a few things. If she watched her power usage, she could have a DVD on in the main house, take a hot shower, and have enough power left to make eggs on the induction element, or if she saved up, she could bake a loaf of bread. The clouds that covered the sky made the solar a trickle, and she could only release the wind rotors on days when they wouldn’t break from their frenetic friction. Yes, they provided power, but she only had so much material to replace or repair them. Oh, and she knew that goats were going to keep kidding, and chickens were going to have chicks if she didn’t eat all the eggs. She had four chickens who refused to go broody, so they kept her fed.

  Her root vegetables were sparse this year, and her fruit was down to tomatoes. She had hand pollenated them to get her second harvest, and the hoop house was shredding under the lash of wind. If she used any more duct tape, it would just be a garage.

  The checklist of chores to get through the day was committed to memory, and finding things to do during her relaxing time had already gotten very boring. Even having sex with herself outside wasn’t fun. The wind was a constant interruption.

  Talking to herself had gotten boring, so she talked to the animals. The funny thing was that they talked to her. The chickens greeted her with a certain pitch that made slaughtering them a little bittersweet. She tried to keep her using them for meat to the ones with physical injuries that weren’t dead when she found them. She was only moderately successful at animal husbandry, and a small cemetery out back was increasing slowly.

  The radio crackled, and the announcement that aliens had come to Earth to remove those who wished to leave came on again. Cass looked around at the place she was stranded on and stared in the direction where the nearest pickup point was. Four hundred miles away was the point where she could leave if they would take her. There was no way that she could make it. Even if she could catch one of the horses, it would still take over a week to get there. They would be long gone by the time she arrived.

  Each night she watched the rising stars, the shuttles leaving the ground and skating toward the sky. They burned hot and disappeared into the clouds. They were a new part of her life, as was the shadow that crossed between the clouds and what little moonlight made it to her eager eyes.

  She was out in the field, tending to the stubby grain that the goats refused to leave alone when she knew her mind had snapped. A man was walking toward her out of the distant treeline.

  Cass stopped with her clawed hoe, and she leaned on it when the figment of her imagination got closer.

  She got a little nervous when he kept approaching and getting larger. There was some kind of cloak on his back and a weird clasp around his neck. His skin was also a silvery grey, and his hair long and black.

  If she was hallucinating, she was doing a helluva job. He was huge!

  The man stopped near her, and he was seven feet tall and built broadly across the shoulders.

  She fell back on her manners. “Hello. Can I help you?”

  He smiled, and there was a hint of threat to his smile. “You may be able to. I am Karus, and I am here to make you an offer.”

  She blinked. “I am Cassandra. Would you like something to drink?”

  He inclined his head. “Thank you. That would be welcome.”

  His words were heavily accented, but she could make them out easily.

  She walked toward the gazebo, where her mint water was covered and waiting. She poured him a glass from the set of four that she had around the pitcher.

  “Please, have a seat.”

  He shook his head. “I prefer to stand. I feel like I have been traveling forever.”

  She held o
ut the water and smiled. “Sorry. I am a little short on luxuries.”

  He took the glass with a smile. “Are you alone?”

  Cass suddenly got wary, and she was going to answer him when a goat butted him in the back of the knee.

  “What is that?” He looked down and stared.

  “One of the goats. There are currently twelve on the property. I believe that one is Cranky.”

  “What is its purpose?” He leaned forward to examine the goat, and the beads in Karus’s hair pulled the locks forward and exposed a pointed ear.

  “It is a farm animal, used for meat, milk, or companionship.”

  He cocked his head. “The males give milk?”

  She snickered and whistled. The herd came running over. “The females who have kidded provide the milk.”

  He looked around, and soon, the chickens began wandering over. “So, you are not alone here.”

  She sighed. “No. They are under my guardianship. They keep me sane, or so I thought until you walked across the field.”

  “I am quite real. I had come here to offer you a rescue of sorts, but now, I believe a barter of services is in order.” As he leaned over, he was stroking the heads of the goats. The animals closed their eyes happily and took the petting.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I will provide you with an escape from this world and take your menagerie as well.”

  She blinked in shock. “What do you need from me?”

  “I require an assistant. My previous assistant is no longer with me, and I believe that you will be able to fulfill the necessary duties.”

  She sipped at her own cup of water. “What duties?”

  “Ah. Whatever I need. I am gathering that you are aware that I am... not from around here.”

  Cass nodded. “The ears and pointy teeth give it away. Not to mention the grey skin, though I haven’t been getting much sun either.”

  He chuckled. “Well, I would pay for your education in the necessary languages, and your aptitudes would be identified. Once that is done, we would return to my home with your creatures, and they will be given a preserve of their own to live out their lives.”

  “Even the horses?” Her eyes were wide.

  “What is a horse?”

  She frowned. “It is about fifteen times larger than the goat. There are five of them. They are riding animals.”

  He frowned, paused, and nodded. “They will be brought as well.”

  “Why? Why would you take me and all my critters?”

  Karus smiled and stepped toward her, looming over her. He leaned down and touched her chin lightly while he kissed her.

  Her heart pounded, her blood rushed in her veins, and she went up on her toes to keep the contact when he backed away.

  His expression was pleased as he straightened. “Your contract will include the animals and their welfare. Can they remain here without you for two weeks?”

  She frowned. “I would prefer not to be separated from them.”

  He sighed. “Fine. A tutor station will be brought to you. When you have completed your learning, you and yours will be brought up. Try and arrange enough food for them for two weeks.”

  “Can you supply the water?”

  He nodded. “We can. Will you draw up a care and feeding schedule?”

  “Yes. The biggest issue will be waste on a ship.”

  He chuckled. “My ship carries a thousand crewmembers. Your beasts will not be too much of an issue.”

  “Okay. I will do whatever classes are needed to get us all out of here.” She smiled.

  He looked at her and shook his head. “You still believe this is a dream.”

  His wings flared open, startling the livestock. He dropped his glass, put his hands on her waist, and pulled her up to him, lifting her until her face was even with his. This kiss was not a gentle greeting. When he set her down and flew off toward the woods, her lips were throbbing, and the rest of her was shaking.

  Her arms could still feel his grip, she tasted blood, and the glass he had dropped was broken on the ground. She staggered back to the gazebo and sat down.

  There had been an alien here. He was interested in her physically, and she had just agreed to do anything he wanted in exchange for the safety of her animals.

  This was a new low. She was pimping herself out for goats.

  Chapter Two

  When the shuttle landed in the high meadow a day later, Cass was stunned. She had always thought shuttles would be smaller.

  A man, sort of, emerged from the shuttle, and she walked up to him to greet him.

  He was a shade of orange verging on yellow that she wasn’t familiar with, but he was wearing a uniform in the same colours that Karus had been. Grey and black.

  The animals were at the far end of the yard, huddled against the fence.

  “You are Mistress Cassandra?” He raised his brows.

  She nodded and brushed at her dirty trousers. “Regrettably, yes.”

  He nodded. “I am Kofu, servant to Master Karus of the Hmrain. He has sent me to administer the courses that will allow you to travel on his vessel.”

  “What kind of courses?”

  He smiled, and his bright blue teeth made her blink a little.

  “Etiquette and language. You must know currencies, how to barter on the worlds that you travel on, and you must be able to identify two hundred species that are common to our trade routes.”

  Cassandra stared. “That sounds like a lot.”

  “Many of the lessons can be given subliminally, but I will test you daily on the etiquette.” He bowed. “I am also here to learn how to take care of your animals. I grew up in a farming community, so Master Karus has asked me to assist in this manner.”

  “Did he ask you or order you? I only met him for a few minutes, so I am not sure about his temperament.”

  Kofu chuckled. “He asked. Not all who grow up around animals are comfortable with them. I will enjoy learning about your creatures and making arrangements for their food and maintenance.”

  “How long do we have?”

  He paused and checked a flat item on his belt. “Fourteen days. I would recommend that you get started.”

  “What happens if I don’t make it through the course load by then?”

  He gave her a serious look. “You will not be entitled to a contract and the details of employment. Instead of being an assistant, you will be a bonded servant with no hope of earning out your contract.”

  “Why do you make it sound like I am going up regardless?”

  Kofu gave her a sober look via his black gaze, so similar to Karus’s. “Master Karus has determined you to be a suitable match with a Hmrain, and he is not going to miss out on gaining one of your species again.”

  “Wait. Again?”

  “He was outbid on the contract of another female two days before you met him.”

  “Oh. Wait. Bid?”

  “Yes. On the education station, once the evacuees have completed their training, their services are auctioned off to the highest bidder, but the purchaser cannot step beyond the bounds of the contract.”

  She interpreted that to mean that there wouldn’t be any shenanigans. “But, he wants to contract a female?”

  “He needs a body servant. The Hmrain can usually go hundreds of years between assistants, but Karus has always been hot-blooded. More than most of his kind.”

  “So, he does want to have sex with me.” She ignored the reference to age. It had to be wrong.

  Kofu turned a pumpkin orange. “Yes, but for your status, he wants to do it mostly legally. Your test results will be filed with the education station, but you will be transferred directly to Master Karus’s cruiser. He will not risk you in the auction but will offer you a contract to match that of the station, with all funds going directly into your personal accounts.”

  She looked at him, his shuttle, and then the animals. “Right. Well. When
can we start?”

  He bowed. “Please, come to the shuttle. We will begin with standard medical scans, and then, I will fit you with the learning implant, and we will begin.”

  “Learning implant?”

  “Yes. It will let the teaching module continue to upload information to your brain while we work and do other things. The etiquette needs to be practiced. You will be representing Master Karus’s star system when it comes to greeting dignitaries who wish to apply for travel corridors.”

  “He owns a star system? How can anyone do that?”

  Kofu smiled. “Let’s get started. First, you need a scan, and the equipment is on the shuttle.”

  Cass grimaced. “Lead the way. Let’s get this over with.”

  He laughed. “That is the spirit.”

  They walked to the ship, and while she was marvelling at the technology that her world would probably never know, she was scanned, measured, weighed, and given a supplement regimen for her increased health.

  “Wait, so I am supposed to work out, eat healthy, and still learn?” She murmured it nervously as he got some kind of injector gun ready.

  “Yes. Your health and well being are important if you are to be of use to the master.” Kofu rubbed a swab behind her ear, and then, the injector thumped against her skull.

  She felt a sharp pinch and then nothing. “Is that it?”

  “That’s it. The language course has already begun.” He checked a computer and nodded with a smile. “Good. Your brain is on the correct frequency for efficient transfer, so I don’t foresee an issue.”

  She didn’t rub at the injection point. She had pulled enough splinters to know that it would heal better if she didn’t prod at it.

  There was a whispering in her thoughts, and she tried to ignore it, but it was as if she could hear a sound in the distance. That was going to get annoying, or it was just going to be something going on in the back of her mind. Time would tell.