“Fine. I’ll take option two,” Tushar muttered, clearly not happy with having to choose only one wife.
“You have our orders,” Izotz told Edur. “Let the aliens know to deliver them here. There is too much to be done for us to leave.”
“It doesn’t work like that. I think these are merely examples of what we will find when we go to the planet. They don’t bring them here,” Edur said. “We have to meet the women on their home world.”
“It would be more convenient if they delivered brides to those seeking them.” Izotz sighed. “Fine. We will take this trip to Erd?—”
“Earth,” Tushar corrected.
“—if we get the hunting done for the winter storms. We will need extra food supplies if we are to accommodate a larger family, and I imagine we will have to teach these women how to hunt our territories before they can help provide. We will also have to scavenge building materials to expand our home for when they come here to live with us.”
“I’ll arrange our travel.” Edur grabbed the holographic device and hurried from the room.
“He didn’t hear anything I said, did he?” Izotz shook his head and looked at the cold contents in his bowl.
“All he heard was yes,” Tushar grabbed the bowl and took it toward the cook fire. He dumped the contents back into the kettle before pouring out a new serving. Nothing was wasted on Sintaz. It couldn’t be. Food was hard to come by on an icy tundra. He set the rewarmed meal before his brother. “Do not look so worried. Space travel is safe, and they would not take us to Earth if there were anything to worry about. Companies like this wouldn’t be in business if they lost customers on alien worlds. Think of it as a vacation.”
“What is this company called, anyway?” Izotz turned his full attention to the meal.
“No idea,” Tushar said. “But I trust Edur to suggest the most reputable.”
Chapter Two
I trust Edur to suggest the most reputable.
Izotz dove onto the alien ground, sliding over the dark surface. It was not slick like ice and bits of debris dug into his naked chest, scraping and stabbing his skin. A blast sounded, whizzing over him with a zap of electricity.
If this was how Earth people said hello, he hated to see what they were like angry.
From the first moment the Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides corporation landed on Sintaz to pick up the brothers, the company had gone above and beyond to show their incompetence. They promised to join hearts across the universes by introducing men and women for mating purposes. What they delivered was the wrong language uploads, slips of green paper Izotz and his brothers were supposed to believe acted as actual currency, and questionable Earth identification packages—seriously, he now had the Earth name of Ice Storm Chaos. Edur was Frost Chaos and Tushar was Snow Chaos.
Ice, Frost, and Snow? They might be considered popular, strong Earth names, but Ice had his doubts. Though, they did assure them that Spark, Flame, and Blaze from the fire planet of Bravon had been quite successful with their element-related names. Ice had begun to doubt those were even real alien clients.
Thankfully, the crew had managed to find them an upload for the Earth language, but only after he had been made proficient in Venimice. Like Ice needed to gurgle-speak to that nuisance race. Uploading data files into the brain might be a quick way of learning, but it left him with a headache. He didn’t appreciate the unnecessary transfer. Now his thoughts were a jumbled mess of Earth English, Sintazian, and throat gurgles.
At least the spaceship hadn’t stalled in the deep black and imploded. That was about the best thing he could say about the bumpy trip across the universes.
I trust Edur to suggest the most reputable.
Ice trusted his little brother to be thinking with the wrong set of brains. No… Little head? Was that the Earth saying? Thinking with a little head? That made no sense. Did Earth males have two heads?
Damn those uploads. They were distracting him as they dispersed themselves into his brain. Now was not the time to think of humanoid anatomy.
Another blast sounded. So much for Earth being a welcoming place to meet women.
Ice glanced up to see his brothers disappearing into the nearby trees. They had not realized he’d stayed behind to distract the alien enemy. Five attackers had come into the small clearing, cloaked in black and hiding in the shadows, as if they’d known where the spacecraft would land.
The strange coloring of his hands in moonlight caused him to do a double take. He would never get used to seeing the dark human-like flesh in place of his blue. Whatever pills they had given them to blend in were working. The fact they had to hide their identities probably should have been their first clue that Galaxy Brides might not have the permission to land that they’d claimed.
Ice rolled onto his back, ready to battle the Earthlings who attacked. A blaster hovered near his face and he jerked to the side, sweeping his arm up to knock the weapon away.
A low gasp sounded, but he could not see the person’s face as a mask covered all but dark brown eyes. Those eyes kept him from striking a second time, more than restraints ever could. Had the Galaxy Bride people done something to him, something to stop him from harming an Earthling?
Logic told him to punch. Instead, he merely blocked the downward reach and rolled to the side.
The loud clank and slide of metal announced the closing of the Galaxy Brides’ ship. They were leaving them here, unaided, with the attackers. Either the bridal corporation was incompetent, or this was a setup.
I trust Frost to suggest the most reputable.
