The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

these people were willing to kill for me, and even then that wouldn’t sit right with me. Not to mention, I couldn’t pilot my way back home, even if they gave me the new ship.

The door clanged open, and I jumped, my gun immediately going up toward the sound. CS Sage re-entered, a broad smile reestablished on his face. “Alien girl, I do believe we found you an alien boy!”

My heart froze. “Viggo?”

Yes, it was none other than my fiancé standing there, his own gun clasped easily in his hand, his eyes mirroring my surprise and radiating concern for my well-being. I felt myself melt a little as he ducked down to step into the room, feeling the impulse to leap into his arm and kiss him until he understood how relieved I was to see him. How much I had missed him, and…

“Hey, Violet,” he said softly. “Want to introduce me to your new friends?”

The elation I felt plummeted as five additional pairs of eyes turned toward me expectantly, and I realized I had just unintentionally lied to them all.

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11

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Viggo

The sudden change in Violet’s face threw me. Whatever I had walked in on, she was decidedly irritated with it—and clearly tired. But given the two Matrian wardens I had found working on the moderately damaged heloship...

My thoughts faltered. This was all too surreal. When, maybe as a child, I had imagined or hoped there were other people out there in the world, I had always pictured them as a kind of group of nomads, people just scraping by in The Outlands, living primitively, away from the only civilization that had managed to grow in these terrible times. Maybe they would be mutants, barely recognizable as human. I’d never for a moment imagined these hopes were real, or that they could have technology equal to or even superior to our own—yet here I stood in what was clearly a very advanced medical bay, designed and run by other people. Not Matrian or Patrian, but still people, with the same general features, and hopefully emotions, that made us all human. It was incomprehensible, yet here we were, face to face with a different culture. My elation was only matched by a strong urge for caution, and, judging from Violet’s expression, there was definitely something to be cautious about.

I took a step into the room as Violet frowned and ran a hand over her head. I caught the motion out of the corner of my eye, my focus on sizing up any potential foes, honing in on the tall, lanky man wearing crimson. He stared right back at me, clearly doing the same thing. He maybe had an inch of height on me, but other than that, we were pretty evenly matched.

Violet seemed to recover from her shock, pointing out each of the individuals as she introduced me to them. “HF Hart, CS Sage, KC Alexander, and, uh, K MacGillus—this is Viggo Croft, my fiancé. I…” She stumbled on her words, her voice wavering between awestruck and annoyed. “I had no idea he would be able to come after me this quickly. I apologize. I didn’t mean to lie to you. I truly didn’t think it was possible, given the state we were in when this little adventure began. I was terrified that Elen—that our enemies had found this place. Please believe me when I say that this is not an advance party or even a scouting one.”

I keyed in to what Violet was saying, keeping my eyes on the three individuals before me. The older gentleman, CS Sage, gave me a broad smile, his blue eyes twinkling. “Is that true, alien boy?”

My eyebrow raised, and I nodded. “It is,” I replied.

“So you’re just here on a rescue mission?” asked the woman, her eyes narrowed, not bothering to hide the mistrust in her face. “And we’re just supposed to believe that?”

“Look, I have been as honest with you as I could under the conditions,” said Violet tiredly. “You can tell our ship is damaged, and two of the three people I arrived with were severely injured in the altercation that took place. CS Sage, am I lying?”

“No,” the older man said brightly. “But then again, you’re not exactly being truthful. The big man in the back of your heloship has some decidedly interesting mutations in his genetic code, and a severe synaptic imbalance in his brain chemistry. I’m curious, are there more like him where you come from?”

Alarm washed over me, and I looked at Violet, trusting her to take the lead on this, as she had clearly spent more time with the strangers and developed a rapport with them, or at least a semblance of one. I was beginning to realize, from how cagey the group was, that this situation could have devastating consequences if handled poorly.

I needn’t have worried about Violet’s reaction. She arched an eyebrow at CS Sage, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Much like the mysterious Scipio, this man must remain a mystery.”

CS Sage chuckled and then looked at the other two. “I like her. My vote is placed. If you’ll excuse me? Her pi-lot”—he pronounced “pilot” as two words, as if he’d never heard it before—“is very unwell.”

Violet shifted, and I turned to see the flash of concern on her face. “Can you help her?” she asked.

“I can and I will, young alien lady. Never fear, m’dear.” CS Sage tipped an imaginary cap at her and then swept back out of the room.

“Wait! What vote?” Violet called, but the only sound that carried through the swinging door was an amused chuckle.

“We’ve decided that you should meet the council,” said Raevyn, as though some signal had been given, though I could see no sign that she had come by new information. “And give them a full debriefing. If you’ll come with us?”

I absorbed that knowledge, suddenly excited by the prospect of meeting with the leaders of this place. This was an entirely