It's Getting Hot: Red Planet Dragons of Tajss: Short Story by Miranda Martin

Author:Miranda Martin [Martin, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grab Miranda Martin’s Newsletter and be the first to know about new releases, deals and general antics
Published: 2017-06-21T18:30:00+00:00

3

Evening

I can do this. I’ll be fine. They wouldn’t hurt me, I’m human. It’s Zmaj they hate.

The mantra runs over and over in my mind as I walk towards Gershom’s camp.

Enemy territory.

When did it get this bad?

After we came to the city, it was natural for us to set up like we were on the ship. We moved into the building across the way from the Main building, creating dorm-like dwellings the same as on the ship. Married couples had their own quarters, the rest of us divided by sex into rooms of three or six. Comfort in the familiar I guess. It brought a sense of normalcy to life.

Except Gershom.

He was too good for a shared dorm. Or something. I don’t know, I’ve never been close to him or his ‘camp’. There were just a handful of with him at first, a few disgruntled people who were expecting a rescue. They didn’t want to take epis after Calista figured out it was addictive and if you took it once you were hooked. Unable to leave Tajss.

Others were upset about Calista and then Jolie, Amara and Lana once more Zmaj started showing up. They’re angry that the survivors aren’t evenly matched men and women, so if the women hook up with the aliens, it leaves even less women for the men. They claim it puts the future of the human race in danger.

But how is that right?

We’re not breeding machines. They chant Human First but isn’t part of being human falling in love? Sharing your heart and world with the perfect man for you?

That’s where their argument falls apart, for me at least. Humans have hearts. Women and men should be able to love who they want. We’re supposed to be better than that. Earth History on the ship was a required class, we learned we’ve risen above so much bigotry in our history but here on Tajss, it’s like everyone forgot that. Just because someone’s body is different doesn’t make them less than you.

Trying to understand their hatred, an empty ache forms in my chest. I can’t. It just doesn’t make sense.

Imagine how the Zmaj feel! They have no women at all, they were killed in the Devastation. Maybe it’s fate that brought us here.

Always work towards the greater good, Rosalind has told me multiple times.

A greater good. That I can get behind for sure. What brings the most good for the most people?

Now if only Gershom and his followers would look at things that way.

Gershom’s building looms ahead, dark and menacing in the fading evening light. It’s really no different than any of the other buildings around the city. Decaying, broken, maybe a bit dirtier than what I would expect but nothing outwardly makes it stand out. Except I know this is the heart of the enemy. Home base for those who would upset the balance that lets us survive on this planet. All in the name of a glorious future dominated by humans.

Okay, Sarah. You got this. Giving myself a mental bracing and a good third person talking, I walk through the front doors.

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