Page 2 of A Monster’s Future

“Victor!” Dana looked relieved as she went to hold the door open. “You must have the rest of our furniture.”

Right. I was currently hogging the only chair.

“I sure do.” Victor walked in carrying a stack of five chairs. “I also have your filing cabinet and your shelf. They’re just outside the door.”

Victor and his wife had joined Ellaston about a year ago, and they’d become invaluable to our growing settlement. He’d worked construction back in Nova Vita, and his wife had been a teacher, two professions we desperately needed in a new colony.

We just finished helping him maneuver the last of our furniture into place when the Gazette’s office door burst open again. Penelope burst in, her tablet clutched in one hand, her face flushed with excitement. “You are not going to believe this," she announced, waving the tablet like a battle flag. "Another one."

She and Dana exchanged a knowing look, but I was left in the dark.

“Another what?” I asked.

“Another woman,” Penelope said, like it was obvious. “From Nova Vita. She just sent me a message asking about the next rut.”

“You know how I contacted Penelope through her books when I was trying to get Gnnar out? Well, she’s been getting desperate requests from women to get them out of Nova Vita.”

I frowned. “How do you know it’s from real people and not just Nova Vita trying to get to us?”

“Actually, we already know two of them are Nova Vita plants.”

“One’s from Omnia Pictures,” Dana said. “She gave a fake name, but I recognized the way she signed off the email, and the questions she asked were definitely Omnia Picture specials. I mean, there’s a tiny chance she could be actually interested in getting out of Nova Vita, but I doubt it.”

“But the other two, so far, seem to be the real deal. And this new lady…” Penelope tapped her tablet, pulling up the message. “She’s young. Twenty-two. Worked in the textile factories. Debt from her mom’s medical bills, who didn’t survive treatment. Her father passed away in a mining accident last year. She had to sell her mom’s bracelet, the last thing she had of her, to make rent this month.”

“She has nothing to lose,” I said quietly.

I swallowed hard, remembering that feeling. The desperation. The way my stomach twisted when I realized I was fresh out of options. The way I’d clung to any lifeline, even if it meant throwing myself at a bunch of rutting alien beasts, hoping for the best. It had ended up being the best decision of my life.

I’d lost my parents years ago, and they’d left behind enough to get me going, but that one kidney infection had stripped my credit account down to nothing. The authorities came for me the day after that first payment was due. Those assholes had been so freaking sure I’d choose the Utopia Project instead of the rut, especially since they’d made the Utopia Project sound so good on paper.

I still remember the equal shock and disgust on the officer’s face when I’d chosen the rut. I’d learned moments later that he got a kickback every time someone got sent to Utopia. I’d just cost him some credits, twice, because my decision had convinced Clara, who’d been my temporary cellmate, to choose the rut as well.

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Penelope said honestly. “We don’t have the resources to get them out yet. And we know for a fact that two of them are fakes. So we have to be extra careful.”

The Kadrixan-issued communication device that I wore around my body on a beaded chain like a purse dinged, and I sighed. I knew exactly what that alert was for. It was the automatic one that reminded me to eat lunch and take my supplements every single day. It had gone off without fail since that initial visit to the medical bay when I first arrived at the Kadrixan stronghold.

“Lunchtime?” Penelope asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you got that alarm removed already.”

“I tried. I really did. But it didn’t work. I still blame Grtirr.”

Grtirr was the bossy, overprotective, and overbearing medic who’d set the alarm up to begin with. He’d been treating me like a child who couldn’t take care of herself since day one, all because my kidney function had still been subpar when I arrived here. A year of perfectly normal kidney function later, and he was still treating me like I might shatter if I skipped a single vitamin.

Talk about hover-doctoring.

“What if Grtirr won’t let me go to Halcyon station because of my ‘weak constitution’? That’s the excuse he used to stop me from volunteering for the serum testing, remember?

“Don’t you worry about that,” Dana said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve got you covered. Both Mark and Krxare signed off on it already. Grtirr can’t say a thing.”

Krxare was the champion of the Kadrixan warriors, and even Grtirr had to defer to him. Maybe this trip to Halcyon wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Chapter 2: Grtirr

I stared at the empty shelf where the last bundle of nullvein roots should have been. The kukees had been thorough. The inside of my supply cabinet was a wreck of shredded packaging and scattered and half-chewed roots. That had been my last bundle, and it would’ve made enough of the mating bond suppression medication to last me another Vokiren year.

I sifted through the mess, salvaging what little usable root remained. This was my fault. I should’ve stored it better. I’d known the kukees—the tiny, furry creatures that acted as our mountain’s trash disposal system—had a taste for the bittersweet root. What medicinal properties it held for the native Vokiren creatures, I didn’t know. But for us Kadrixans? It was the only thing keeping unwanted mate bonds at bay.