Ray's dumpster-diving is interrupted by two aliens, one who wants to kill her and one who shows her she will save galaxies. In the other future, Ray and Asha married and saved slaves by trading for shipfuls of them for Molly's Rainbow Colony to save. Emperor Ry'nao asks her to help him save 13 galaxies.

Great Find

Time to make my rounds, before I freeze. I stretched, careful not to press against the side of my tent. Never knew when an unwelcome visitor would try to come in. If I can just make some money today, I've almost got that deposit to have an apartment. Blood on my red sleeping bag is an ugly reminder of my last visitor. He went to jail last night, but there's always someone else.

I got a fresh shirt out of the pile and dressed as fast as I could. Light from my cell made changing risky, but groans from the tent next door and their light made a good distraction. Wish I had another pair of jeans. They still smelled from my last dumpster. No good trying to go in a store to buy something to clean 'em up.

At least I can look forward to a change when I get back. If I don't get arrested. But, sometimes that dumpster behind Charley's has something good. And, Tara's Closet is buying. Tara has a room for my finds and cleaning supplies so I can do something about these jeans, I hope! It's 6 am. It'll be light in a little over an hour. Once it's light, there goes my opportunity.

I got my backpack with my roll of garbage bags and a roll of twine, and unzipped my tent.

"Hey, darlin', where ya goin'?"

I glared at 'im. "Some people gotta work." I ducked when he least expected, and he fell on that tent next to mine. A fight started. I ran.

The full moon outlined tents under the trees. Oh, I just want someplace with a door that locks, and a little heat. Got a long walk ahead. That'll warm me up if I walk fast.

Through the bushes, and to the sidewalk. It was a lot easier to get around when I could take MARTA. Not with these smelly jeans. Ugh. What a life!

I looked up at that wonderful moon. There are good things about life. There is hope. There is. As long as I'm still alive and able to dumpster dive, I can make it. If I can just find a full change of clothes and someplace to change, I can use my card and take a shower at the gym. Yeah, that's motivation.

As I went, I checked dumpsters. One had a streetlight showing bags overflowing, and one ripped one had clothes. I ran over there.

What a bonanza! A whole bag of jeans! Another bag, nice dress shirts! Sadly, another bag was kids' toys. A tricycle sat by the outside of the dumpster. Nice furniture. Someone got evicted. Five bikes. I found some belts and attached the jeans and the shirts in neat bundles to the nicest bike. Carefully strapped 'em so no grease from the chains would get 'em. I sacrificed two pairs of jeans to make sure the rest wouldn't--

"Where are you going with that?" A man stood by the dumpster. He reached for my hand and I dodged. But, he moved faster than I expected. His grip hurt!

"Let me go! You can have it. All of it. I'll just be on my way--"

"You are not going any--"

"Release the maiden!" Another fella hit him, then put an arm around my waist! I stomped his foot—no shoes? Green light swirled around us, and we stood in a spaceship! A crowd ran to us.

White light flashed. The smell from my jeans was gone and I wore a purple dress. I stopped struggling and the man let go.

"Asha, your foot! Let me heal--"

"See my maiden!" Deep-voiced crying made me turn around.

This man had an athletic build. Taller than me, not much. Yellow skin. Twin-fingered hands rolled up. Not a threatening stance, not at all. His foot was huge where I stomped him.

Another man held out twin-fingered hands to me. Red-gold eyes filled with tears. "Maiden, we wish ne to harm you. Please, let me offer healing to you. I fear Asha will ne let me touch him until I see you."

I looked from him to the fella who brought me. "I'm sorry! You saved me--" I rubbed my wrist and winced. Can't move it.

"You had great fear! Pas, she is injured, please, heal her! Heden tried to take her!"

Everyone around us gasped.

"He is with Ih Esta. I saw our TS Inspector port!" Another man started to pick him up but one in white robes took him.

Pas, the orange one, put an arm around me. I let him. "Please, come to a bed." He nodded to his right and one appeared. That confused me. What's he want? "I plan ne decadence." His mind filled me with images of children with skint knees, and he comforted them, then put a hand on the knee and it wasn't skint. More. Adults with wrist injuries. They had to sleep after he healed 'em, but he just wanted to stop their pain.

I let him pick me up and put me on it. In a bendable mattress. He was careful not to touch my wrist, and it rested on an unseen, soft support. He wore white robes with gold trim.

All of this kind attention cracked my tough facade. Tears rolled out of my eyes and down my face. How long has it been since anyone touched me, except to try to take what I didn't want to give? This month-long nightmare of living in a tent--

My reflection in the curved hull showed me, mouth open, blue eyes huge, and light brown hair ragged on my shoulders. Thin. I used to be overweight. I shivered and he put a blanket on me. Not just a soft, white blanket, but it's warm.

Another white-robed healer put Asha beside me on another bendable mattress and waved for a bowl. Rubbed white foam on his foot and it shrank to normal size. He hummed as he worked.

I took Asha's twin-fingered hand.

 The white hall lead to the glass doors at the front of the building. Nobody calls me Ray, here. From the looks of the lobby, you'd never dream that poor people saw social workers or got job training here. Fancy overstuffed chairs for visitors and donors. Not for us. The receptionist knew to chase us out if we tried to sit.

As I walked by her, she waved up my file in a wavering holo. We got discarded tech. I tried not to notice. The holo was old. My hair had gotten darker to match my wrinkles, now that I was 43. With my medium blue eyes, I easily passed for a very serious Elshar now. She wasn't supposed to let me see, by the rules. Lots of rules in Merit Colony, a virtual colony for Earth's poor. I got In because my business went under—from trading. One deal with a man who seemed honest, and I lost it all. I'd get it back. I'd use a newer holo so they'd think I was Elshar. If I'd done that, he wouldn't've dared to rip me off. They had me housed in a seedy hotel until I made enough for an apartment.

But, today, I needed some trade bal. Adopt-A-Slave gave the best deal. And, I'd learn about other species, which might come in handy. I already knew a lot about Elshars.

"Pah! Watch where you're going!" One of them bumped into the door as I swung it out.

"Slopfah! Ande le peh!"

He stared at me. Most Earthans didn't know Elshar. His blue eyes got medium blue from dark. "And, how is it you speak Elshar? Do you know what a slopfah is, Slopfah? If you are Elshar, why do you dress like a colony rat?" Slowly, he let his eyes crawl up and down me as his telepathy pried at me.

I continued in Elshar. "If you don't take your mind out of me, I'll call 911 and have you ported. Do the kids still stone people on the Platz? They'll send you to your home prov. Want to go to the tents?"

People around us stared, then hurried away.

His eyes turned black. "Pah, you're not worth it." He went in. Staggering drunk.

Risky, to mention things like porting home and tents, but then, I was always a risk-taker. My 5' 10" height gave me an advantage, especially with short hair. Elshar men are short. I walked to the bus stop on the wide semicircle that set the front of Merit Colony's main office far off Orion Street. A blue-glassed corporate office. Pretty flowers died in the cold air of Atlanta winter, and the fountain of round concrete didn't have any water in it. From Orion Street, pronounced OR-ee-on, you didn't see much.

I gasped! That memory—like it happened—my point of view—I'm 20!

One of the Zheien looked up, saw me, and dropped his burrito on the asphalt.

"Novas, Joe, what—"

"The Master comes!" He got up so fast he nearly fell. Ran and threw himself at my feet. "Master! I be good! I work hard!" Elshar, not Zheien speech, as I expected.

I helped him up. "Did you hurt yourself?"

One of the Thordes and a Zheien came running. The Thordes took his arm. "Forgive him, Master, he is confused. Joe, the other master will come for us in a min—"

"This is the Master!" His twin fingers got orange blood all over my sleeve. A blue-skinned Zheien.

The other Zheien looked up at me—he had yellow skin—and trembled. "Forgive him, Master. We wait for adoption, and he is eager to do the work we prepare."

I smiled. "Can I adopt him? Who do I talk to?"

The Thordes looked at me with his shoulders bowed. They look like us, except purple. "Master, if you are Elshar, you may not adopt. It is not—"

"I'm Earthan!"

He sighed and looked down.

An Elshar ran out. He wore a disheveled business suit. "Hey! Get back to work, you guys—" He spoke English.

"But this is the Master!" Joe held onto my arm with both hands. He also switched to English.

"I want him. How many can I have? I'd like to take all three—"

The Elshar waved up my file. That startled me! Didn't know anyone else but me had— "I'm Asha, and I'm your agent—"

"Asha, of what prov?" I spoke Elshar.

He startled. "You speak Elshar, and you live in Merit?"

All three of the slaves cowered.

"We'd better speak English. I don't want to scare my new friends." I smiled at them.

Asha looked at them. "They need to work. They earn trade balance sorting garbage for recycling so they can go home someday. Fellas, go work—"

"I must stay with my master." The Zheien trembled as he looked at Asha.

I patted his hand gently. "Go and work. They'll call you when I'm ready. I don't want you to miss out on your trade bal, Joe."

-- Ray, Host

This will be the next book to read after Adia, One Of Prophecy, and it will begin the Ray Series. It's part of Battle Of The Cubes, which really isn't a series, but I'm still figuring that out. Each character will have her own series, and I'm planning 3 books for Ray.

About The Cover

Art and DesignCopyright 2024 Dannis ColeCover designed on Canva

Blue Desert Photo Science Fiction Book Cover template

I used the HDR Free City Night Lights  from HDRI Hub for the street scene. 323-hdr-city-road-night-lights-free Loaded as background in DAZ Studio.

Characters created by Dannis Cole in DAZ Studio.

Raylene Green Genesis 8 Female

I put this Pexels photo into FaceGenpexels-adrian-jozefowicz-1046240.jpgwhich also made me a custom skin texture for my G8F character.FeralFey pose, wish I'd noted which one! I have several of their excellent pose sets.Chevybabe25 dforce Neroli HairCSJ Genesis 2 Female T-shirt, Jeans Ravenhair CasualJeans CsJTShirtRavenhair CasualJeans CsJPantsRavenhair Wander Outfit Hoodie Love all the adjustments! Needed a lot to conform to this pose!Ravenhair Wander Boots, from Wander OutfitGenesis 8 Female Zev0 Triumph and ES8 Smile Open Full Face Expression mixed with Screamdisordercode School Girl BicycleTS Dumpster BaseTrash Bag ModelAlso used Genesis 8 Female Zev0 Shape Shift sliders to get her shape and expression right for this cover. Thanks, Zev0!

Heden Genesis 8 MaleEric Body from Zev0 morph package?Weight 25 %Boris face 100% [FaceGen] from photo on Pexels. 

NOTE: FaceGen's legal department says it is legal to use any photo, even a copyrighted one, in their software to make a 3D model from it. The model will not look enough like the person, even if they are a celebrity, to cause legal issues. Even artists who take the model into Blender or a high-end modeling program can't make the model look exactly like the person. Interesting blog post on the FaceGen software's site.

Terran Hair 8Basic T-shirtG3M Worldly Jones JacketM3D Bennet BootsFeral Fey EP 14 B Hunted PoseJWolf Steampunk Angry 08 G8M

Baddie is Heden, need to describe an old, dark haired Elshar with wrinkles from a lot of hyssdia use.

2:47 AM 04-Nov-23
Changed hair to Evony Hair G8F and it fits under hoodie, for Ray!New problem, no transparent background. Read up on DAZ forums. I had changed the background color. Now it's charcoal gray which should had fixed it according to the post. It did not. I did fix hair, but how to fix this background problem? Had a lot of renders with pink background before this, and that was before I monkeyed with my interface. Now I want to figure out how I changed it and even though I love the blue, if it's making me not have transparent backgrounds, I'll have to go back to plain, dull gray. [I did, and my transparent backgrounds work. Thought I'd include these notes for anyone working in DAZ Studio who might think to customize the UI. Other parts of it are fine, but if you want transparent backgrounds, don't change your background color!

And, of course, I did postwork in GIMP.