She took a deep breath and got out of the car before storming up the stairs and pulling open the front door. Inside the huge dome was a single desk with the Draconian secretary sitting behind it. What did this guy do all day?
“Have you come to enter the mating lottery?” he asked as she approached his desk. The secretary was seven feet tall and impossibly good-looking, like all Draconian males. His perfect features and shining blue eyes made it difficult to remain angry at him. Difficult, but not impossible.
“I have not come to enter the lottery. My friend was here earlier. You told him about the Draconian reconstruction of the city. I would like to be involved in the planning. After all the stupid mistakes the Draconians have made in their involvement with Earth, it’s about damn time that you start taking our needs into consideration.”
“It was not our intention to mate with a civilization at your level of advancement. It is highly unusual for us to be involved with a race who is not either in a very low level of technological advancement or a very high one similar to our own. It was unfortunate that this happened to your planet. But rest assured, the Draconians are committed to making reparations.”
“Committed to making reparations? What the hell does that even mean? You can’t just leave our opinions out of it if you intend to rebuild our entire planet from the ground up.”
“The president has sent our best architect. Housing for Draconian civilians has already been built. Your city will be reconstructed within a few months. You should be pleased.”
“Has this architect of yours been studying human history, human culture, human society?”
“He is the Grand Architect of Draconia. I’m sure he is equipped to provide your species with all you require.”
“Don’t talk down to me. Just remember you need our DNA to survive,” she said, ready to get into a serious debate with this snobby secretary.
“Is there anything else can I do for you today?” he asked, as if dismissing her.
“I told you, I want to be involved in the planning of the reconstruction of New York City. This is my city. I’ve lived here my entire life. I don’t trust some alien to make all of the decisions about how we’re going live.”
“I’ve told you, that is impossible. Now, if there’s nothing else I can help you with…”
Octavia groaned angrily and turned away, storming out of the consulate. She should have known they would blow her off like that. Typical Draconian behavior. They thought they were so much better than humans because they were more technologically advanced. But if they were so great, then why didn’t they think before messing up the Earth? They weren’t even taking responsibility for their mistakes. She got in the truck and gripped the steering wheel, growling angrily at the windshield.
There was nothing she could do except go back to the refugee camp and wait for the Draconians to mess up again. She turned on the engine and pealed out of her parking spot. She hadn’t felt this angry since the weeks after the bombings when she was still grieving the loss of her parents. Everything felt so bitter and hopeless.
Chapter 3
Joss Noro, Grand Architect of Draconia, landed on the small blue-green planet at the site of his next project. The president of Draconia had requested that he specifically go to Earth to deal with the “human problem.” The humans had been a thorn in the side of Draconians since the ill-fated mating armada had left Draconia six years ago.
Humans were a silly race who hoarded resources and waged war on themselves. Joss had learned a few things about the technologically immature species on his way over from Draconia but hadn’t bothered to go over the extensive training materials the males who intended be mated with a human female were expected to learn.
He had no intention of entering his DNA into the mating lottery. He doubted his fated mate would be found among these silly people.
Joss had loved once, a long time ago, when he was but a young man. He had given his heart to a Draconian woman. She was sophisticated and refined, educated in the finest Draconian schools. She came from one of the best families in the Draconian government and had been perfect for him in every way.
He had been sure she was his fated mate. They had spent many countless hours together, traveling in the same social circles. They’d been so young, the mating impulse had not started for either of them. They had both believed that on the day when they came of age, the mating impulse would begin for each other.
But that had not come to be. When the girl had reached her age of maturity, another man, an older man who was an expert in his field and quite well-off, claimed the girl as his own. Her mating impulse was just as strong as the older man’s, and she left Joss without a second thought.
They never spoke again. Joss no longer believed in love or the mating impulse. He certainly could not fathom the idea of mating with this barbaric, ridiculous people. He planned to spend the few years required to rebuild the Earth’s cities, then quickly go back to Draconia. His real work was on his home planet, advancing his race as the mighty people they were.
The Draconians had been a technologically advanced species for millions of years. Even with the DNA structure that favored male offspring, they had managed to thrive all that time. The Mulgor had even had a chance to evolve out of Draconian DNA in the time they’d been traveling the universe.
Why Draconians continued to mate with low-level species did not make sense to him. However, if a species was still living in caves and using stone weapons, at least the females would be justifiably impressed with the Draconians’ superiority. These stupid humans were not.
It was not the custom of the Draconians to mate with societies that were at a midrange of development. They either mated with low-level species or species who had the same level of advancement as their own. Five thousand years ago, Earth humans were an appropriate choice because of their low level of development. No one could have anticipated they would advance so quickly. It was a very rare thing throughout the universe.
The mating armada might have been better thought out if the Mulgor had not attacked right as they were preparing. With the war exploding in the Draconian solar system, research of the Earth humans had been lacking.
When the Draconians had found the humans at their midrange level of technological advancement, it had been a surprise. Draconians had to replenish their DNA at least every thousand years. Time was running out and there would be very few females in the next generation.
There had not been time to find another planet to mate with before the generation was over. Negotiations with high-level societies took dozens, even hundreds of years. Earth humans had been the last barbaric race the Draconians had identified as being genetically compatible with themselves. There was no other choice.
Trading technology with the humans was the only option. How were they to know that the humans would not be able to handle themselves? But in typical human fashion, they used the new technologies to create a vast economic divide between rich and poor.
These were just a few of the reasons that Joss refused the idea of taking a human wife. He had no interest in mating with a semi-barbaric species, even if he had to spend the rest of his life alone. After losing his one love as a young man, he had vowed to never love again.
Joss stepped out of the transport vessel and made his way towards the new Draconian building that had been constructed for him and his crew on Earth. They were typical of buildings constructed for Draconian colonies, several stories high and half a mile long.
Massive amounts of debris had to be removed to build the construction. Now that it was done, it could house many Draconians from the mating armada. Most of the men were civilians, scientists, engineers, men who could help in the reconstruction of human society.
He walked into the building and was greeted by the commander of the mating armada himself, Commander Nash Or.
“Greetings, Commander,” Joss said, giving the commander the traditional Draconian greeting of placing his hand on his heart and bowin
g forward slightly.
“How was the trip over from Draconia?” Commander Or asked.
“As well as can be expected.”
“Were you able to study the materials I sent to you?”
“I went over some of it. But I didn’t think it was necessary since I do not intend to take a bride.”
“All new Draconians are entered into the lottery upon arrival in the solar system. By order of the president. We aren’t just here to construct buildings. We’re here to revitalize our DNA. It is our primary objective. One I take very seriously.”
“I have no interest in a human bride,” Joss said.
“You have already been entered into the lottery.”
“My fated mate will not be found among these barbarians.”
“Who are you calling a barbarian?” said a dark little woman with a baby and a strange little push carriage. She was short but pretty, in a human kind of way.
“I beg your pardon, madam. I meant no offence,” he said, giving her the traditional Draconian greeting.
“Humans aren’t barbaric. We just haven’t advanced to your level yet.”
“Indeed,” he said, not wanting to continue having a conversation with the barbarian female.
“Let me introduce you to my bride, Lexi Garcia. And our daughter Violet. Finding Lexi was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Commander Or said.
“And finding Nash was the best thing that ever happened to me, even though I wasn’t so sure about it in the beginning.”
“Why in the world would a human reject a Draconian?” Joss asked, shocked. Any human female should be grateful to be mated with a Draconian male. The last time they were on Earth, the humans had seen Draconians as gods. As far as Joss was concerned, they still should.
“Hey, Draconians aren’t the only ones with standards or values,” Lexi said, pursing her full lips at him.
He narrowed his eyes at her. How dare she speak to him that way? But he supposed this human was mated with the commander of the mating armada. Joss was a civilian and did not have to take orders from anyone, except perhaps his president. But he did have respect for the commander’s position, even though he had no respect for the man’s choice in females.
“I’m sure that’s true,” Joss said. He was sure it wasn’t true. From the little he’d learned about humans, they had low values and low standards. They let billions of their own kind starve, and they bombed each other for fun. Yet this woman seemed to believe that humans weren’t barbarians. It was really quite humorous the more he thought about it. However, he decided he should not share that fact with either the commander or his silly human bride.
“Dearest,” Commander Or said to her. “Why don’t you take Violet for a walk around the building while I talk with the grand architect?”
“I would, but there’s not really anywhere to walk in this place. It wasn’t designed for humans…” she muttered, walking away.
Joss frowned. This building was of his design, used on all Draconian colonies. What did she know?
“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk with you about, Joss,” Nash said. “The human brides are not happy living in this building.”
“This is standard colonial construction,” Joss said. It worked for all other Draconian colonies. Why not Earth?
“Even our mating armada has been reconstructed and rearranged for human tastes. The apartments onboard had to be redesigned to accommodate our mates.”
“I do not see why humans should require anything different from any other Draconian colony.”
“We made a study of human culture so that we could appropriately provide for our brides. But many refuse to live on the ground, which is ironic because this is their planet.”
“I will take it under advisement,” Joss said.
The last thing he was going to do was take advice from a military man. Joss had spent two decades in higher education, dedicated to architecture and construction.
He had spent another two decades as a professional architect and had risen to the rank of Grand Architect of all Draconia. He had personally designed the president’s own quarters. He had also constructed dozens of colonies throughout the galaxy. Those were the very reasons he had been chosen to come to this planet.
He had the experience, the education, and the skill to do the job. Commander Or didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Good,” Commander Or said, giving him a suspicious look.
The man didn’t believe him. As well he shouldn’t. Joss was not a man to take advice from his inferiors. Draconians has learned long ago to treat all members of their race as equals. But they had also learned to give due respect to experts. Commander Or should remember that.
Perhaps the man had spent too much time with humans and had forgotten how important it was to defer to those with greater knowledge and ability.
Joss nodded at Commander Or and turned away. He took the elevator up to the top floor to his apartment and walked through the sliding door into a room. It had a very similar design to military vessels and colonial buildings.
Everything was white. The furniture was in squares and rectangles and made out of advanced foam blocks. A table with a food replicator sat off to the side and a big open window looked out onto the last remaining park within the city that had once been called New York. He had learned that this was one of the most populous cities in the country called the United States of America.
The city had been chosen specifically by the president. It had political and social implications that the president had been advised were important. Joss didn’t see why they shouldn’t just pick a spot somewhere without the debris and wreckage and start over again. The humans could then move to that new location and spend the rest of their time cleaning out the debris from their old cities.
He stood at the window and looked out at the park. Human refugees were camped in tents in the snow. The squalor of it was sickening. He could only imagine the lack of sanitation and the resulting sickness among the people down there. He wrinkled his nose just thinking of the stench.
He intended to build over the park with the same type of construction he used in Draconian colonies. This world and situation demanded quick housing for the population and the designs he used on Draconian outer colonies would be perfect here. These beings, in their squalor, should be pleased with his plans.
Joss couldn’t believe that any Draconian would want to mate with beings like these. But he supposed that some men had lower standards than he. It bothered him that Commander Or had entered him into the mating lottery. But it was the request of the president, and he was not a man who would defy the command of his leader.
If he had believed there was any way that he would be somehow mated with one of these humans, he would’ve been concerned. But he no longer believed he had a fated mate anywhere in the universe.
Chapter 4
Octavia was stewing in her tent all night and until the next morning when she woke up, still angry. She heard the sound of Dan outside her tent entrance and she grunted in the cold, moving around inside her sleeping bag to open the door.
“What is it?” she groaned, her breath puffing out in front of her as the cold air blew into her tent.
“You need to see this,” he said, his voice full of concern. He held out a big plastic square that had writing and drawing on it. She realized it was something like blueprints, except when Dan flicked part of the paper, it became holographic and three-dimensional.
“What is that?” she asked, her voice still horse and heavy.
“These are the Draconian plans for New York City,” Dan said.
Octavia looked more closely at the three-dimensional plans. The buildings were nondescript industrial blocks. They looked like prisons or tenements. There was no variety. No streets. No parks. Just rows and rows of these industrial blocks that went on for miles.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she said. “This is how they plan to redesign New York City?”
br /> “I guess these are typical Draconian colonial housing. Which kind of makes sense. Seems we’re being colonized.”
“They expect us to live in these cell blocks?”
“There will be hot running water and food replicators, so everyone will be clean and well fed. It’s something. Better than what we have going on now.”
“This is unacceptable, Dan. We could’ve done something better than this.”
“I don’t know, Octavia. We don’t have any resources. We would’ve been nailing together salvaged materials from the wreckage. Who knows how long it would’ve taken us to even get running water?”
“Seriously, Dan?”
“I know it isn’t ideal. We were all hoping for more, some fantasy utopia. But this is reality. We have to take what we can get.”
“Maybe you have to take what you can get, but I’m not settling for this. I intend to give those Draconian assholes a piece of my mind. The world might’ve been screwed up before they arrived, but they’ve completely destroyed it now. If they want to breed with our women, then they can at least rebuild our cities in a way that’s suitable for human beings.”
“What are you going to do?” Dan asked, scratching his red beard.
“I haven’t decided yet. But I’m not to sit around here and do nothing. Can I borrow your car again?”
“Sure, what do you need it for?”
“Going back down to the consulate to yell at them until they listen to me.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” he said, handing her the keys.
“Fine. I don’t care. Thanks for the keys.”
She brushed past him out of the tent and hurried toward the parking lot where his truck was parked. She wasn’t going to let the Draconians get away with this. Humans couldn’t live in cellblocks.
The worst part was that they intended to build right over Central Park. Not only were they going to give humans prison-like housing, they intended to destroy the one good thing left in the entire city.