Stray Humans

We were all so excited when They first arrived. The Srelheok were an advanced race of kind, philanthropic, strange looking off-worlders. With their fluid like bodies, musical voices, and many gifts, it was difficult to see them as a threat. Maybe we should have been more cautious.

It started innocuously enough. They requested a few volunteers for aptitude tests, so they would know what level of their technology we could handle without endangering ourselves. We sent them our best and brightest. Those volunteers came back with fascinating stories of the wonders we could expect from our new friends. Wonders that we never received. After months of evaluating our planet, the Srelheok decided that while our people were advanced enough to handle their gifts, we simply couldn’t be trusted not to use it against each other or eventually them.

They offered to take those who were peaceful enough back to their home world and show them the universe. Many went willingly. The Srelheok we knew were kind and generous. They had much to teach us. As the years went by, more and more people started to go missing. The “Abducted by Aliens” stories were an internet joke at first. The ambassadors swore it was outlaws within their race that were taking humans without permission. Poachers, millers, and labor hunters.

When the Srelheok general population found out how easy it was to train humans, how they loved to fight each other, how cute their babies were, everyone wanted one. The market for designer humans started first. Generations of selective breeding programs created races we’ve never witnessed here on earth. Some humans were bred to be incredibly tall, others were bred to be exceptionally smart or beautiful. They even had a market for little people. As things carried on this way though, the designer humans started having serious problems. Lifespans were diminishing, fertility rates were dropping, congenital diseases were rising. After the Srelheok tried to technologically override the issues they were seeing, they concluded that humans’ genetic structure was just too fragile for invitro manipulation. This led to less demand for designer humans and all their newfound flaws, and created a demand for wild humans instead. We came in vast varieties, and there was something for everyone.

While all this was going on with the people under the care of the Srelheok, the people who chose not to go on an interstellar adventure went on with their lives. Not a lot changed on earth. Money was still short, war was always lurking on the news, and work dominated our existences. Rumors of human traders in the government came and went, but as long as your friends or family didn’t go missing, you didn’t really care.

I didn’t care about the stories and rumors at all, until my daughter disappeared. The Srelheok had preferred races based on what they wanted a human for. They’d come for laborers from one country, pets from another, fighters from warzones and so on. Since Caucasian women with brown or blonde hair were a dime a dozen, we didn’t get “chosen” very often. We were not considered exotic. Unfortunately, my daughter was born with red hair and flawless skin. The midwife who helped bring her into the world made an offer for her on first sight. I thought she was just offering up a compliment, as was the tradition at that time. I politely refused her and didn’t think of it again for years after. Until that night, the one that changed everything.

My daughter had just started kindergarten, she was such a bright girl. Sorry, she IS such a bright girl. All the children who start school undergo a full spectrum evaluation. Social, psychological, intellectual, and physically aptitudes are cataloged so the teachers know how to best support them. The Srelheok had access to this database, as part of a research agreement they made with our governments. Whether or not our representatives knew they’d be using this database to shop for wild humans is anyone’s guess.

I woke up in the deep dark, trying to puzzle the noise that had pulled me out of sleep. It wasn’t a scream. It was more like a small yelp. Figuring my daughter had stubbed her toe while on her way back from the bathroom, I got up to check on her and make sure she was okay. I stumbled down the hall, still half awake, and found her room empty. She wasn’t just gone, but all of her things were gone. Her bed, her toys, her books, and all of her odds and ends. It was just a blank room at the end of the hall. Like I had just evicted a roommate. I don’t remember if I screamed, I don’t remember how long I stood there dumbfounded. I do remember the incoherent conversation I had with dispatch, and the people who showed up to process the scene. They seemed so bored, like this was something they’d done a thousand times. Maybe it was.

After all the usual suspects were eliminated, it was clear that she had been chosen. What the Srelheok had chosen her for was a mystery that was sure to drive me mad. Was she a pampered pet? Was she working in a field? Was she part of a research project? Was she sent to a mill? The possibilities and horror stories I’d read about on the internet all swirled through my mind in endless loops.

After what seemed like an eternity, I received a package from the Department of Interplanetary Affairs. It contained a check for more money than I’d ever imagined would be available to me, a heart shaped locket, and a letter. With shaking hands, I put the check down on the table, sat in one of my dining chairs and opened the locket. It had a picture of my daughter I had never seen before. She was smiling, but her eyes were sad. Her hair was teased into a huge poof, and her clothes were shiny purple. She hates purple. I gulped hard and starred at her picture for a long time. My hands were shaking when I could finally bring myself to set down the locket and pick up the letter. It read:

Dear Miss,

We regret any emotional discomfort this rehoming event may have caused you. After reviewing your current living situation, your daughter’s educational potential, and your remaining potential, the Srelheok have determined your offspring would benefit from an alternative living arrangement. The citizens she has been placed with have hosted over twenty humans since relations between Earth and Srelheo. We are confident that she will enjoy the rest of her life in this new arrangement. Please don’t attempt to contact the citizens she has been placed with or discuss this arrangement with other citizens of Earth. Any concern that you raise with the authorities or media will result in the forfeiture of the compensation you have been awarded in this case.

Best Regards

Agent Amilia Jones

Department of Interplanetary Affairs

The rage I felt was overwhelming. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t see. My whole world became anger so deep, it felt like I had fallen down a well and would never be able to hoist myself back out of it again. Breathe. Come on, you’ve got to breathe. Air! The first breath made me so dizzy, I almost fainted. A few more breaths and I regained my center. Okay, what am I going to do now? These people basically just told me that they were buying my daughter whether I liked it or not. If I tried to fight them, they’d keep her anyway and cancel the check. As if there was any price they could put on my child. MY daughter. I looked at the check with hatred. Before I knew what I was doing, the check was shredded and laying on the table in scraps. I was going after her, whether They liked it or not.

I went to the Voluntary Placement Facility. When children turned 18, they could enlist for the Srelheok internship program. I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about a twenty-four year old, but it was a place to start. I had already been flagged. No internship options for me. I had to find an off the books way to Srelheo. After an extensive search, and almost all of my savings, I finally found a Senior Adoption Facilitator that would get me to Srelheo.

The ride was long and boring, not fraught with danger as everyone was led to believe. When we arrived on Srelheo, the facilitator handed me off to the auctioneer. That’s where my troubles began. I wasn’t being placed with citizens that wanted an older human pet, I was being sold. I should have known. After a quick exchange of words I didn’t understand, I found myself on a plantation of sorts. Where they made earth food for the humans on Srelheo. It was hard labor, for years. I had kept the locket with my daughter’s picture in it. It changed every few weeks, through some technology the Srelheok possessed. I watched my daughter grow through that tiny portal. I tried to escape and search for her over and over again, but they always caught me. I might be on the same planet as my daughter, but I am no closer to her. I should never have resisted them. I could have been living in comfort on earth, enjoying the Srelheok’s generosity. Instead, I have lived my life, only hoping that my labors are feeding my child and the other children that have been taken. The irony was never lost on me. Neither was the tragedy.