A thought occurred to her.
“Is there a way out of here? A secret door or a guard I can bribe?”
I shook my head.
“The guards are unbribable. And there’s no door, secret or otherwise.”
“But there must be a way out. No prison is impregnable.”
“This one is. It’s where they put all the worst criminals in the galaxy. They put them here so they can forget about them. They don’t care what happens to us. That’s why they let us fight. This prison takes up the entire Gharr moon. They have different sections for different purposes. I’ve been here most of my life and I still don’t know what all the sections are.”
“Bummer,” Ivy said, letting her head flop back on the pillow.
She clutched the blanket close but it did nothing to ease my imagination.
I filled in the outline of her body that pressed against the blanket.
It wasn’t easy to forget we were both half-naked.
“I was hoping there was some way out of here,” she said. “Every movie I’ve ever seen set in a prison involves a breakout.”
“What’s a movie?”
She looked at me as if I wasn’t being serious.
“It’s a form of entertainment. You watch it.”
“Oh. Like the fights?”
“In a way. But not really. Do you read books?”
“Yes. I read some about my species when I was young.”
“How about novels? Stories?”
I shook my head.
Ivy sat up and focused on how she could explain these “movies” better. She tugged on the blanket, exposing my chest and arms.
Ivy stared at me a moment before licking her lips and tearing her eyes from me.
“Its, uh, something I love a lot. Stories about people going on adventures.”
“History?”
“Not history. History happened. Stories are like history but they didn’t happen.”
History that didn’t happen?
“They’re lies?” I said.
“Yes!” Ivy said, clicking her fingers. “And no. It’s sort of like… Dreams. You have dreams, right?”
“All the time.”
“So, it’s like a dream… except it makes sense.”
Ivy frowned and pressed a hand to her head.
“I’m not making any sense, am I?”
“You’re making lots of sense. Please, continue.”
And she did. Once she started on the subject of stories, she couldn’t stop.
I loved hearing about her culture. She even shared some of her favorite stories and histories.
She didn’t stop talking. And I didn’t stop listening.
Each time she tore her eyes from mine, I secretly ran my eyes over her, memorizing every line and curve.
She grew more relaxed the more she spoke and I got the sense she missed talking with someone since she got here.
I was glad it turned out to be me.
I began to see why my instinct told me to choose her. I owed it a debt of gratitude. For the first time in many years, I had a conversation partner I looked forward to spending time with.
I only felt sad that our time would run out at seven o’clock the following morning.
Ivy
I slept like a baby. The bed was as comfortable as the one back home.
Back home…
Not a day went by when I didn’t think about my friends and family, my old job (okay, less about that), and the local barista I had a crush on.
He smiled at me every morning as he handed me my cappuccino, but then again, he probably smiled at everyone that way.
I could feel his arms on me now, stroking my skin and making the hairs stand on end. The electricity made a crackling sound.
Could Pablo be the one? I thought. I’d never thought of him as someone I might actually fall in love with but maybe…
I opened my eyes and for a moment, I thought my dream had come true.
An arm was draped around me and I used his broad chest as a pillow, my body was curled up alongside his and—
But his skin was as grey as granite.
Pablo didn’t have grey skin!
I bolted upright and immediately recalled my surroundings.
I lay in an alien bed with alien sheets… and with an alien!
Kren lay sound asleep.
I thumbed through my memories from the previous night.
Had we… done anything?
I pressed my head into my palms and massaged my temples, a sudden headache striking hard.
No. We didn’t do anything.
We stayed up all night talking. We must have fallen asleep during the night and automatically curled in each other’s arms.
I peered at the thick protrusion poking at the blankets around his groin area.
Kren certainly deserved his nickname… Beast. They could use that thing to deforest jungles.
I slipped my legs out of bed and started when I noticed they were bare.
I’d taken the sheer dress off before sleeping, the way I always did.
I picked up the dress and, peering back and keeping a close eye on my “host,” slipped it back on.
As flimsy as the dress was, it was a barrier between us as I backed into the bathroom.
I shut the door and let out a breath.
“This is nuts,” I said to my reflection in the mirror. “Absolutely and totally nuts.”
I shook my head and caught sight of the shower behind me.
Hot water. Was there any hot water?
I turned the tap on the sink. It was ice cold.
I turned it off and tried the other one. It was less cold… and then turned warm, then hot.
Yes!
I dumped the sheer dress on the towel rack and moved to the shower.
The water pressure was strong and thundered on top of my head—much better than the dribble we got in our showers at the Prize Pool.
The water was hot and soothing against my skin.
Amazing.
I laughed like a crazy person beneath the deluge.
I grabbed the soap and marveled that it was a whole bar of soap and not the tiny sliver I had to share with the other girls.
I lathered it up and happily scrubbed myself clean.
I even got to wash my hair in something that resembled shampoo!
There sure were perks to being the best fighter in this place!
I dried myself on a towel and wrapped my hair in it to dry.
I wrapped another one around me and considered whether or not I should head back out into the cell.
I glanced at the
