Nanny for the Alien Lord by Tammy Walsh

Belle

“Well,that’s a stroke of luck, isn’t it?” Abbie said.

The moment I got home, Abbie didn’t stop questioning me.

She poked and probed with expert precision, somehow sensing there was more to my having secured a new—temporary—job than I was letting on.

That was the problem with having such a close sister.

She knew exactly how to press my buttons, knew exactly how to get the information out of me that I didn’t want to share.

Backed into a corner and with no way out, I told her everything.

“How is it lucky?” I said.

“You lost one job and now you’ve already found another! Zev really is the land of opportunity!”

No matter how excited she was, I couldn’t see the upside in all of this.

Sure, I would have an income, but what had I given in exchange?

Tauas made me nervous.

He brought butterflies to my stomach that whirled like a tornado, threatening to explode from the inside out.

“Well, I think it’s lucky,” Abbie said. “And who knows, maybe if you play your cards right, you’ll get lucky!”

She winked at me and wheeled out of the room.

The butterflies turned rancid and I could have thrown up.

I’d put myself under his thumb and there was no squirming from under it.

All night, I tossed and turned, dreaming about him and his little girl.

Elken.

I bet she would turn out to be an absolute monster if she was anything like her father.

When morning finally rolled around, I didn’t want to get out of bed.

“Wakey wakey!” Abbie sang, banging on my door. “Rise and shine! It’s new job time!”

With a loud groan, I shoved myself from the bed, got dressed, and went through my usual morning routine.

If I pretended I was heading to my old job, maybe I could bring myself to believe it.

I dressed in a strict and completely unflattering suit, my hair tied savagely back.

I wore no makeup or jewelry.

No one can find me attractive dressed like this!I told myself triumphantly.

I headed downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Woah,” Abbie said, running an eye over my getup. “You forgot to mention something about your new job.”

“What?”

“That you’re working in a funeral parlor.”

“Haha. Very funny,” I said, reaching for the coffee pot.

Real coffee beans were prohibitively expensive on this planet, so we made do with the thick sludge produced from native aknod beans.

It was so bitter I couldn’t help but grimace when it hit my tongue.

“I might be funny, but your appearance isn’t,” Abbie said. “You’re going to scare the poor child half to death.”

I hadn’t thought of that.

It was all well and good to dress like this to repel Tauas, quite another for little Elken to be terrified of me upon first seeing me.

First impressions counted a lot, especially with kids.

I shook my head.

After Tauas left, I would take the jacket off, let down my hair, and be more open and friendly with the little girl.

“I’ll be fine,” I said.

“You’re the expert,” Abbie said with a shrug. “Toast?”

“I’ll eat later. It’ll help save us some money.”

“Wow. I never thought I would say it but you might just be tighter than Dad!”

We shared a laugh and Abbie smiled at me.

“Good luck today,” Abbie said. “I know you’ll do great.”

She set herself up behind her desk to take her first customer service call for the day.

Cars didn’t existon Zev, or any other advanced alien civilization.

Instead, they’d converted the roads into magnetic rails that pods hovered on.

It was a cheap and very efficient way to get around.

The wealthy could still fly shuttlecraft but for a drone like me, this was the best form of transport I could afford.

The pod deposited me at the curb and I climbed out.

I was in the wealthiest part of town.

The tall houses on either side of the street leered down at me accusingly as if they knew I was an impostor.

I clutched my bag close and hustled toward the ornate gates at the front of the nearest property.

I checked the address and found it was the right place.

I felt more nervous now than I had all night.

If I turned around and left now, could I escape this scenario?

Could I claim I couldn’t find the house and then go and…

What?

I’d still have to report in for work, only now I would have an angry Tauas to deal with.

I was going to have to put on my big girl pants and head inside.

I pressed the intercom button and Tauas immediately responded.

“You’re on time!” he said, his holo-image dancing in front of my eyes.

He wore a big grin.

Behind him, I could make out his daughter zipping to and fro like something from an alien horror movie.

“I’ll buzz you in,” he said.

The lock on the front gate clunked.

As the gate slowly slid open on rusty hinges—horrifically, to my ears—I might have been in a slasher movie.

The driveway sloped upwards and swerved around two large bends before finally reaching the house.

The incline was steep and made me pant for breath.

I stopped at the hill’s crest and peered up at the magnificent facade.

Where the other houses on either side of the street were dominating, this mansion was downright terrifying.

Huge pillars thicker than a Yixx male bore the weight of the triangular roof perched high above.

And coming down the front steps…

Tauas Choer.

He wore another smart suit but hadn’t yet donned the jacket.

He grinned and waited for me to join him at the front step.

“You found the place okay?” he asked congenially.

“It’s hard to miss. You have a beautiful home.”

“It’s big, that’s for sure. But beautiful? I’m not so sure. I never really liked it. It always came across as too ornate for someone like me.”

I was momentarily taken aback by his honesty.

I wasn’t sure I could feel comfortable in a house of this size either.

“Then why did you buy it?”

“Lyssun. My wife. She wanted something that would scream success. She considered the home an extension of the business. I suppose she was right.”

Silence pressed in on us, making the close distance between us seem to shrink.

Our eyes darted toward and away from each other.

One of us should say something…

But for the life of me, I couldn’t think of a single topic or word.

“Yaaarrrhhhh!”

The shriek came from a little girl who bolted from the house.

She slammed into the back of her father’s leg and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

The impact knocked the tiny rocket she clutched in one hand from her podgy fist and skidded across the ground.

Except, it didn’t strike the ground and only floated on its tiny anti-gravity generators.

No matter how long I was on this alien planet, I would never get used to the sophisticated technology.

Elken peered at the toy and then up at me.

She wanted it but was too nervous to get close to me.

I bent down to pick the toy up.

Elken eyed the toy jealously.

I extended it toward her, just enough so she would have to cover the remaining few inches herself to claim it.

She did and immediately shied back behind her father’s leg.

I’d made first contact.

It was important to make a good first impression, not only with Elken, but her father.

“What do you say?” Tauas said.

Elken pursed her lips and fingered her toy before glancing up at me.

“Thank you.”

She was a darling little girl, nothing like the monster I envisioned Tauas had spawned.

Her eyes were big and wide, the same golden light flickered in her irises as her father’s.

But that was where the similarities ended.

Elken had a small, long face, with short but growing sprout of blond hair.

A pair of hard stumps jutted from the corners of her brow.

Her horns wouldn’t come in fully until she came of age.

She must take after her mother in the looks department, I thought.

I felt a pang in my stomach but couldn’t decide whether to ascribe it as sadness or jealousy.

“How about a cup of coffee?” Tauas said.

“Yes, please,” I said.

We headed inside, Elken floating between her father and me.

She cast looks up at me as we entered the long and opulent halls of the Choer mansion.

The walls shimmered with morning light, tiny rocks embedded in its surface sparkling like diamonds.

And they probably were diamonds.

Things had a different value here than back home.

Diamonds were just another abundant rock.

Rooms sprouted off from the arched doorways on either side, each space larger than my whole house.

We headed straight down to the room at the end and hung a right, into the kitchen.

Wow.

A huge island curled in an arc.

Behind it, all the modern machines and utensils you’d ever need.

Not that I could cook at all.

It was Abbie that had the culinary skills of a master chef.

As Tauas switched the coffee pot on, I pulled a stool out from under the island.

Through wide French windows, the back yard—and to call it a yard was an insult—was fully visible.

“I drew up a quick contract,” Tauas said. “It’s on the table.”

I reached over for it and found a pair of single pages and those only sported a paragraph each.

I checked the back of the pages but they were blank.

“I kept it short and sweet,” Tauas said. “I didn’t see the need to get my lawyers involved.”

His eyes glinted as he said the words short and sweet.

I wasn’t short back on Earth but the Jixx were powerfully built creatures and towered over most species.

As for sweet…

My mouth felt dry and I tried to focus on the wording of our contract.

I hoped he didn’t expect any “sweetness” from me.

This arrangement of ours was the real origin of my nerves.

A contract would place me in his employ and, to my mind, his ownership.

I couldn’t shake the feeling he wanted a lot more from the relationship than the professional one we’d agreed upon.

“Would you like anything in your coffee?” he asked. “Milk? Cream? Sugar?”

“Yes, please.”

“Which one?”

“All of it.”

He blinked in surprise.

“You must have a sweet tooth.”

“Not really.”

The Jixx coffee was so bitter it needed all the sweetness I could get.

He added everything and handed it to me.

I blew the steam off the top and took a sip.

My taste buds went wild and my eyes popped.

“You have real coffee beans?” I spurted.

Of course, he did.

What was I thinking?

The man was rich—beyond anything back on Earth.

If he wanted coffee beans, I was sure he could get his hands on them.

“I find Earth beans the best,” he said with a shrug.

So did I, but the import costs alone made them impossibly expensive.

Later, I would have to tuck some in my bag.

Abbie would have a fit!

“Feel free to take as much as you want,” Tauas said as if he could read my mind.

“Uh. Sure. I will. Thanks.”

I bent over the contract.

It contained a handful of sentences, forming a single plain paragraph.

As I skimmed through it, I noticed how un-legal it sounded.

It stated how much he would pay me, when he would pay me, the hours I would work, and that was about it.

Even a basic contract usually consisted of a few dozen pages written in indecipherable legalese.

It left large gaps open that either of us might try to exploit.

He must have known he was leaving himself open writing it like this.

What did that mean?

That he already trusted me implicitly?

Or was I reading too much into it?

I scooped up the pen, signed my name on both documents, and handed it to Tauas, who did likewise.

He handed me my copy.

He folded up his own and tucked it into his inside jacket pocket.

“No backing out now,” he said.

“As if I would,” I said, meeting his gaze evenly.

Tauas drained the last of his coffee and placed the cup on the sink.

“Well, I should get to work.”

He bent down and pecked Elken on both cheeks.

She was too busy fiddling with her rocket to notice.

“I’m heading to work now,” he said softly. “I want you to behave yourself with your new nanny. Can you do that for me?”

Elken nodded but gave no indication as to whether or not she intended on doing as he asked.

He hugged her in his muscular arms, so soft and gentle…

It brought a shiver across my skin.

He stood up and towered over me.

My heart thundered in my chest at his approach.

I was reminded how small and fragile I was compared to him.

He could have his way with me and I’d have no chance of stopping him.

Please have your way with me.

I ground my teeth and attempted to turn it into a smile.

Sometimes my imagination could run away from me.

“All the important numbers are programmed into the home computer system,” he said. “Simply tell the computer what number you want to contact and it will do as you ask. Which reminds me. I’d better give you access.”

He arched his neck to speak to the home computer system.

“Computer. Open new user file. User name: Belle.”

“New user created,” the masculine computer voice intoned. “Please speak to verify.”

Tauas nodded to me.

“What should I say?” I said.

“New user verified,” Computer said.

“Now you have access to almost all programs,” Tauas said. “If there’s any problem, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

And with that, he slipped on his jacket, waved goodbye to his daughter, and left.

And just like that, I was left with a strange, unknown little girl, in a mansion, belonging to one of the wealthiest creatures in the entire galaxy.

I sipped on my coffee and promised myself not to mess this up.

It was only then I realized I had signed my life away—at least for the next two weeks.

And until then, he could command me to do whatever he wanted and I was obliged to obey.

Why did the idea of that fill me with pure delight?