Claimed for the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📗

Now I simply had to figure out how to work the damned transporters. The terminals were lined up at the back of the room like giant versions of vacuum tubes at bank drive-throughs—only these were big enough for humans and Khanavai, or in some cases, even crates of goods to be delivered to the space station.

For the first time ever, I wondered why the rejected brides were loaded onto a shuttle transport to go back to Earth, when we were all brought here by transporter.

At least I should be able to figure out how to work a transporter more easily than I could learn to fly a shuttle.

Each tube had a control panel on the side, and as I made my way over to the closest one, I heaved a sigh of relief. Khanavai and human technology had merged over the last several years in more ways than I think either race had ever expected.

Granted, the Khanavai didn’t allow us to use their transporter technology freely, so it wasn’t exactly the same. I studied the panel for a moment.

Power buttons, numbers, detailed controls…

Yeah, it was familiar—much like the control panels that ran most of the electronics on Earth. Not that I had anything as nice as a unit control panel in my crappy old apartment.

But every kitchen I had ever cooked in—even the diner grill—had one.

I can use this. I can go home to Josiah.

But then what would I do? Start running again? Where could we go? Frank knew where I was, knew that I had been living under is an assumed name. He could be heading to get Josiah from Becca right now, for all I knew.

He could have had Josiah for days by now.

And if he didn’t have Josiah already? He would track us down again. He would never stop chasing us.

There was no place on Earth that was safe.

I had only one choice.

Decisively, I entered Eldron’s code again and pushed the button to turn on the transporter. It flickered to life, bright white lights running up and down the sides as it powered up.

On the touchscreen, a request for input blinked. Nine digits. It wanted the code for a tracker. Without giving myself time to think, I tapped in Josiah’s code—not the one he had been assigned at birth, but the one attached to the new tracker I had implanted to replace Josiah’s legal one when we had run from Frank.

I pushed enter and stood back to wait.

I might not be able to protect my child on Earth, but I could make sure he was safe as possible, at least for now, by bringing him up to Station 21 with me. I had no idea how I was going to explain this when we got caught—because I knew we would. But Eldron had said he loved me.

He said we were mates, fated to be together for life.

Maybe he means it.

He probably wouldn’t want me after this, not after he found out all the ways I lied to him and to the world.

But he was a good man. I was sure of it. He would make sure Josiah and I were protected.

Sobs clogged my throat as the outline of Josiah’s body formed in the transporter. It was all I could do to keep from clawing my way in through the tube door before he was completely solid.

I watched impatiently as the curve of his cheek grew more real by the second, the roundness of his tiny body solidifying before my eyes. As soon as the machine slid open, I lunged in and grabbed Josiah, tears streaming down my face. “Josiah! I am so glad to see you. I love you, I missed you,” I babbled, squeezing my tiny five-year-old baby boy to myself as I rained kisses on his face.

He had been sleeping when I transported him, still wearing his favorite Spiderman footie-pajamas, his eyes half-closed with sleep. “Mama,” he said. “Are you back?” He glanced around, confused. “Where are we?”

“No, baby, I brought you up to Station 21 with me. You’re in space. Isn’t that exciting?”

“In space?” He looked around at the walls. “Are you sure?”

“I am.” I had to give him another squeeze, just to make sure he really was there with me.

“Where’s Becca?”

“I couldn’t bring her with you. But we will be sure to tell her where you are, so she doesn’t worry.”

And that was enough for him. He wrapped his arms around my neck trustingly, and I picked him up, unwilling to stop touching him for even a moment.

I didn’t know how I would get word back to Becca—she would be frantic when she found him missing.

But it was more important to keep Josiah safe.

Thank God Frank hadn’t found them yet.

Now, though? I wasn’t even sure what to do next. But I knew I needed to get out of this room. The last thing I wanted was to be caught illegally transporting someone aboard Station 21.

“I want to go back to bed,” Josiah grumbled.

With one hand, I reached up and stroked his dark, tightly curled hair. “I’ll see what I can do about that. You just rest your head on my shoulder, and I’ll carry you.”

The warm, trusting weight of him calmed a deep inner part of me that had been screaming in terror ever since I’d been transported aboard the station.

Safe. My baby is safe.

The words kept echoing in my head as I carried him out into the hallway.

I didn’t know how long we could stay hidden on the station, but at least right now, there was no way Frank could get to him.

I started to head back to my room. When I reached the juncture that would lead either to the brides’ quarters or to the grooms’ quarters, I paused, thinking of all the ways Eldron had helped others since I’d been here.

He’d arranged for Tiziani to be stationed here for the next year. He’d made sure Cav and Natalie could be