“It's a recruitment office for the Galactic Alliance Science Society's experimental work.”
She wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. “What kind of experiment?”
“Potential mates and breeders for different races of humanoids.”
She shook her head. “Yeah, um, I think I am going to go now.” She wasn't about to be hauled off into a slavery ring and wind up a breeder for some aliens out in the far reaches of the galaxy because she stumbled into the wrong place.
Nope, not her.
She knew better than to fall for this guy's tricks. She dug around in her pocket and felt the crystal, as well as her little multi-tool she'd used to steal the citricite, but it might be enough if she had to…
As If he knew what she was thinking, he stepped away, giving her a wide berth. “As you like. You're not a prisoner. I would suggest the front exit. The rear one, they're looking for you.”
Adryel kept to the one side, as far away from him as she could as she moved toward the door of the storeroom. “Yeah. It's time for me to, uh...” Because she wasn't about to be part of any of this that was going on in here.
She'd just stepped back into the hallway when a female came around a corner with curly blonde hair. “Dane, what's going on--Oh! Hello.”
Adryel froze.
Now the odds really were stacked against her.
“I'm leaving,” she said.
The female stepped to the side. “Wait, please.” She glanced back at Dane. “Who is this woman, Dane?”
He shrugged. “She was hiding in the alley. I helped her.”
The female nodded and glanced back at Adryel. “I'm sorry if he startled you. Dane doesn't care for the policing guards, and he always wants to help others.”
“I don't like them,” he said.
“No one does, I don't think,” Adryel huffed.
Dane smiled. It was somewhat soothing to see it, but he still unnerved her. She wasn't sure why. Maybe because half his face was metal.
“Again, I do apologize. He was only trying to help, so I hope he didn't frighten you.”
“No more than usual,” Adryel muttered. She noticed she'd gotten closer to the front of the store, though really it looked more like a medical office than anything. “What is this place?”
“We recruit females who want to participate in the Galactic Alliance's experiments. Primarily their inter-species mating experiment.”
That gave her a cold shiver.
Wasn’t this basically selling breeders to the highest bidder? What the heck was the government thinking? How were they getting away with this?
She glanced out the window.
They were getting away with it because of where they were recruiting. Here on Kerde, where so many were repressed. Females didn’t have as many options here. It was a hard place to live.
This would be the perfect place to find women who needed to get away. Disappear into the galaxy.
Not a bad idea, she thought. Would solve a lot of her problems.
She wanted to slap herself. The idea was terrible. Just run off and be a child creator for some humanoids on who knew what world? Just living here on Kerde showed her exactly how many species treated their females.
She had the scars to prove it.
So to the tiny part of her had an inkling of how this could help her, that part could just step into an air lock.
