Arthur sat in the passenger seat of an old truck, it was blue with a wood bed, boxes lined the bed, nearly covering the window in the rear of the cabin. The seat was leather with no gap for storage, clearly worn from what looked like decades of use. He leaned forward and began messing with the radio, trying to find a station through all the static. Alara opened the door and lightly smacked his hand, a smile appearing on both their faces. She then sat down and grabbed the dress that hung loosely around her ankles, pulling it into the truck. She reached past the steering wheel and placed her thumb on the biometric scanner just behind it. The vehicle slowly rattled to life, after letting it sit for a moment, she closed the door and grabbed the gear shift, putting the vehicle in automatic.
They silently drove down the old, deteriorating road. Arthur was leaned against the passenger door, looking out the window at the sky, he was rolling over the last couple days since he'd met her and he discovered two things. He was slowly falling in love with this woman, and he quite was not a fan of shoemaking, he much preferred traveling the exploring the universe and documenting what he found over it. Despite his dislike of her work, he still wanted to aid her to the best of his abilities. After some time, Alara leaned over without looking away from the road and poked him in the ribs.
"What's up?"
She smiled, the skin around her eyes giving away to some light wrinkles.
"Oh it's nothing, I was just curious if you were still here."
He leaned over and poked her in the ribs in return, she almost jumped over, the truck swerving to the left. They were lucky it wasn't a busy road this early in the morning.
"Stop, I don't wanna play this game. It isn't fair I'm too ticklish."
He pulled away and watched the road, a joking smile appearing on his face.
"Then why did you start it Alara?"
She looked over, eyes wide.
"I told you, Arthur, you've been too silent, and I need you to keep me entertained. It's a bit of a drive and the radio is broken."
He rolled his eyes, making sure she could see it and she laughed a bit.
"That's not in the contract, and I am not paid nearly enough to do that."
She looked over at him, feigning annoyance.
"I think I pay you plenty."
He looked over and said:
"You don't pay me at all!"
She grinned devilishly.
"Oh woe to you, is my endearing presence not enough to satiate your greed?"
He matched her grin, making eye contact with the woman.
"You damn slave driver. I should report you to HR for the clear abuse happening here."
She straightened up, putting on a serious look.
"I am HR bitch."
Arthur laughed, he couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed being around someone so much.
"Oh, okay then. Ma'am I have a grievance to report."
She let out a chuckle but didn't reply, as they had finally arrived at the market. She pulled the vehicle towards the front and put it in park. After sitting for a moment, she looked over at Arthur, a sad look appearing in her eyes.
"You've probably guessed by now that since I live on this planet with no family, that I used to belong to the Valahi."
Arthur looked over, somewhat shocked that she'd decided to open up about what had happened to her.
"Yes, I assumed that was what happened."
She looked out the window at the sparse amounts of people tiredly walking into the entrance of the large grouping of buildings.
"I was five when they took me from my home on one of their campaigns, they razed my planet to the ground."
Arthur felt a pang of sorrow form in his heart.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
She didn't look at him and continued.
"Arthur, I can't have kids, they made it clear I was nothing but a toy for pleasure. They treated me like a dog, a bitch. At some point I lost all hope, I felt my only purpose was to bring them pleasure."
He reached over and placed his hand on hers, lightly squeezing it.
"You aren't there anymore Alara."
She finally looked over at him, tears crawling down her kind face.
"Some days I'm not so sure... Some days I wake up and feel the collar on my neck. Some days I wake up and feel like I escaped my purpose."
Arthur leaned over and gave her a firm, yet light hug. He didn't know what else to do, words couldn't express how sorry he felt. After a few moments he returned to his original position on the seat, and looked down at his hands.
"I'll... tell you what happened to me."
She didn't look at him, her hands were shaking as they squeezed her dress, her knuckles turning pale under the pressure.
"If you want to. Don't feel pressured to talk about it if you don't want to."
He shook his head.
"I'd feel wrong if I didn't."
She looked over at him, a look of regret forming on her face.
"I'm sorry."
He scratched his head.
"Don't be, I'm doing this because I want to, I've spent far too long silently dwelling on it. Your courage has inspired me."
She continued looking him up and down. Eventually she landed on his eyes, and nodded.
"I was born on Earth, back when it was still bustling with activity, before it fell to its own populaces greed and hunger. I always wanted to explore the universe, I felt I was born too early and too late, too young to explore the vast expanse around us and far too late to explore the rock beneath my feet. One day my wish came true, I would've been ten at the time. Human's made first contact with an alien species."
Her face gave way to confusion, but she didn't interrupt him.
"Eventually the began to assimilate with our species, becoming friends, even family, that was when someone landed their ship in our yard. He was tall, wore black clothing that hid his now familiar figure. On his face was a makeshift gas mask, tube ran from it to large cannisters on his robed back. I went outside to greet him when he took me in front of my parents, ignoring my mothers screams and even the shots from my dad's firearm. I don't know how long I was with him."
She opened her mouth to speak but decided against it. She nodded and let him continue.