Rader Knight was a cyborg warrior in the Alliance Defense Force, retired after thirty years’ service to a backwater colony with a shortage of females. He applies to the service hoping they will find him a soul mate. After two years, they found Sky Carter, and she was willing to make a leap of faith and accept his proposal and take a three-month space journey to be his mate.
Did Skye Carter really know what she was getting herself into?
Excerpt:
Rader was on patrol when he received Skye’s acceptance of
his mating proposal from the matchmaking service. The usually calm and stoic cyborg commed Makus excitedly after he had
reviewed the acceptance several times to
be sure his new emotions were not causing him to misinterpret the message.
He now had a mate, and
she was coming to Glasica to be with him!
Impatiently, he signaled Makus’s com a second time, and the other man answered.
“Yeah, Rader. What’s up?”
“Skye Carter from the dirt planet has signed the mating
contract, and she’s coming on the next
ship. It will take three months.” Rader said grinning.
“Man, that’s great Rader, I am happy for you. Jhenre will be
almost as excited as you are. She wants you to be as happy as we are. I don’t
know much about Earth---just that the people are human like we are. But I’ve
heard only good things about the matchmaking service. It could be rough getting
to know each other at first, but you’re smart. You’ll figure it out.”
“I have studied everything I could find about Earth culture
of the people indigenous to the area around our base there. They seem a lot
like us but low tech. But Glasica is very much Earthlike. It will all depend on
how we do together. I worry that she might not like me in person.”
“Don’t do that, boss. Jhenre said any woman with half a
brain will see you have a lot to offer in a relationship, not to mention that
all you cyborgs are good to look at.”
“Jhenre thinks I am attractive?”
“She does, but she’s mine,” Makus chuckled.
“Of course, I know that. If Jhenre
thinks I am attractive, then Skye may think so too.”
“Right,” Makus said. “Don’t forget that you will be able to com with her interactively once she leaves
Earth. That will give you time to get to know each other while she is traveling
here.
“I have not forgotten. Is it normal to have this much
apprehension about the esteem of a female?”
“I believe it is.”
“Life was so much simpler when all I had to do was kill the
enemies. I really want this female. I feel
like she is intended to be mine.”
“Apparently Narovian Matchmaking came to the same
conclusion. Don’t worry Rader. After she comes all this way, she can’t just
turn around and go back. She could have the same feelings about this as you.”
***
“Are you crazy?” Janie squealed when Skye confessed her
plans. “You’re going to another planet to be some man’s wife you never met?”
“But the service said he is my soul mate. They match people
by DNA.”
“Why are you doing this? Is it because of the attack last
month?” Janie asked.
Skye sighed. This was exactly
the reaction she expected and the reason why she’d waited so long to tell her.
“That’s part of it. Janie, I lost everything in that attack. When I was looking
online to see what had happened, I found the matchmaking site. Then I thought
why not?”
“Why not use one of those dating sites here? Skye, you’re
beautiful. You should be able to find a husband right here on Earth.”
“I haven’t had a date in two years. I can’t even remember
how long since I got laid,” Skye told her. “I’m twenty-eight years old. I don’t
have that many more years to have kids. If I started dating a man right now who
I could marry, it might be two more years before that happened.”
“They couldn’t find a man here on Earth out of seven billion
people?”
Skye shrugged. “There might not be that many in their
database from Earth yet. I don’t know.”
Skye took out her smartphone and scrolled through her
pictures until she found the ones of Rader. “Here, this is him.” She handed
Janie the phone.
Janie took it and groaned as she looked at Rader’s handsome
face and broad shoulders. “Well, they sure picked you a pretty one. Ooh, wee. But still, three months in space to
another planet. I wouldn’t do it---not even for this handsome hunk.”
“Well, I am. I’ve already signed the mating agreement. It’s
all arranged,” Skye said. “Anyway, I didn’t call you here to have you talk me
out of this. I wanted to see if there’s any of my stuff here you want before
charity comes to pick it up. I’ve got kitchen stuff, clothes, any of the
furniture. The appliances are staying.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Day after tomorrow,” Skye said with calm determination.
“What about the closing on your house?”
“The lawyer will handle it, and
the money will be deposited in my account. It will be converted into Alliance
funds as will all my savings.”
“Will that be enough to get you home if you find you have
made a colossal mistake?”
“Possibly,” Skye said, “Or it might be enough for me to
start a new business on Glasica.”
“That’s the planet name?”
“Yes.”
“Will I ever see you again?”
“Possibly not, but we can keep in touch on the internet.”
“I’m going to miss you.” Janie suddenly hugged her.
“You are one of the few people I will miss,” Skye said
blinking against the sudden prick of tears. Janie had always been more than an
employee. She had been with Skye since the beginning five years ago when it was
just the two of them running the “Books and Data Stop.”
After their hug, Janie started looking through the clothing
on the living room sofa that Skye was getting ready to pack in boxes for the
charity pick-up. Janie picked a few things,
and Skye packed
the ones she rejected into boxes.
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