“No, please, please don’t. You don’t want to do this. I will do anything you ask just please don’t.” She couldn’t help but bring herself to say the word, “please don’t use me.”
The halfsie man immediately backed away. “Woah, woah, nobody said anything about using!” He looked to the Haraldie. “Reema, you can’t possibly be asking me to—”
“No, you moron!” Reema yelled, looking at both the halfsie man and Sarah, as if the insult had been meant for both of them. “If black eyes don’t sell, what makes you think sloppy seconds will! She needs to be in pristine condition. Nobody touches her. I just need to get a better look at the merchandise.”
“You mean we don’t even get to take a test drive!” Jent asked, while staring at Sarah and running his tongue along the back row of his two sets of teeth.
“Back off, shark-boy. She’s not for you.”
Jent, unphased by what the Haraldie woman was saying to him, moved closer towards Sarah and sniffed the air around her greedily.
“Jent, I’m warning you—”
“You’re warning me?” The Selachi turned around and advanced on the Haraldie. “Well how’s about I warn you about what happens when you warn me?”
Reema stood her ground, her eyes daring Jent to try something. “I’m a rank higher than you, and you know it. Not to mention the boss has been looking for an excuse to toss you ever since you ‘accidently’ impregnated the last slave girl and soiled our chances of selling her.”
Jent was now just inches from Reema’s face. He breathed in calmly. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re jealous. What, Reema, you want to swim with the shark?” Jent moved in as if to kiss her, but the Haraldie moved quicker. Using her slight height advantage, she brought her right elbow down hard upon Jent’s shoulder, while throwing her left fist directly into his stomach. He lost his air like an untied balloon and crumpled into a sort of standing fetal position.
Reema bent down in order to make eye contact with the agonizing Selachi man. “I wouldn’t fuck you for all the pinches in the galaxy, you loathsome, mucus-y, bottom feeder. Now get out of my sight before I report you for insubordination.”
Breathing near-asthmatically, and with eyes watering from pain, Jent left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Reema didn’t say anything, simply pointed at the Sarah, implying Pitt get back to the task at hand. He walked towards her, again, this time with more confidence, but she was ready. Bracing her back against the wall, she jumped as high as she could and sank both her feet in the Halfsie’s groin. Pitt bent over in agony as Sarah, unable to catch herself, landed on her tailbone, flooding her with a pain like she had never felt.
Reema yelled. “We don’t have time for this!” She grabbed Sarah roughly, mumbling, “You want a job done right, you gotta do it yourself.” Reema curled her fingers around the collar of Sarah’s thin shirt and ripped it from her body with one quick motion. Sarah stood, shaking, in only her bra and pants—her bound hands keeping her from covering herself. Just then the door to the storage room opened and the tall, blue form of who had to be the captain emerged.
“What the hell is all this noise about?” he yelled, moving towards the group with heavy, authoritative steps.
“Captain, hi,” Reema’s voice cracked. “Don’t worry, everything’s under control. We were just figuring out what to do with our captives. This one here I’m thinking we can sell—”
“What’s wrong with Pitt?” The Kylen pointed to the halfsie man who was rolling on the ground, openly crying.
“Well, she’s uh, she’s a fighter. Let’s put it that way. But nothing I can’t handle.”
“Let me go!” Sarah struggled against the Haraldie’s tight grip, but the two aliens paid her no mind.
“Where’s Jent?”
“Probably pouting somewhere.”
“Of course he is.” The Kylen touched Reema’s shoulder and reached to take Sarah into his own arms.
“Don’t touch me you disgusting—ahh!” The Kylen dug one of his claws into Sarah’s arm.
“You, stop talking.” He looked to Reema, “What do we have here? A halfsie?”
“I don’t think so, Grom, sir. I’m pretty sure she’s pure human.”
“Pure human? Really? But she’s so…ugly. Her skin is the color of that brown clay we used to make our waste buckets out of, don’t you think?” The Kylen laughed. “And that hair. Do you think there’s some evolutionary advantage to having such wild, unkempt curls? Protection for the skull, perhaps?”
“It is possible, sir. I don’t much about humans, aside from how to get the best market price for one.”
“What are these tiny spots all over her face?” Grom reached one of his clawed fingers out and lightly stroked Sarah’s cheeks.
Before Reema could even venture to guess what freckles were, Sarah spit clean into the Kylen’s face, aiming for his eyes.
“Let. Me. Go.” She kept her voice confident and steady, but braced her body for a blow that didn’t come.
Grom was silent. He breathed in slowly, keeping his composure. He wiped the saliva from below his eyes and leaned his face in close to Sarah’s.
“Did you just give me a command?”
Sarah said nothing but kept steady eye contact. His gray irises no longer seemed like calm, beautiful storm clouds. Rather, they crackled with the intensity of a devastating lightning storm.
“I’m the commander of this ship, and I don’t take kindly to people who question my authority. Now you’ve made yourself very clear, you wish to be set free, but that’s not going to happen. You see, you’re mine now. I own you. And I can do whatever I want with you. And right now, I think I want to take you back to my room and ensure that you understand who’s in charge here.”
The fire of Sarah’s bravery was beginning to extinguish as the helplessness of her situation started to dawn on her. Finally, she broke their staring contest and hung her head in silence.
“What about the rest of them?” Reema asked, pulling Grom from his apparent fixation with her.
“Are these the only ones left?”
“No, these three were just the only ones who didn’t sustain any life-threatening wounds. Nickle is working on getting the other five in stable condition. Hopefully we will be able to salvage enough to break even at the markets. This plunder is starting to cost us more than it’s worth.”
“We’ll see about that. Go ahead and take your earnings. Whichever you want. Just don’t kill them. You can use them until we land, then you either have to find a permanent use for them onboard, or we will try to sell them. Tell the others.”
“Yes, sir.”
Grom pushed Sarah out in front of him. “Let’s go.” Sarah went without a fight. Grom leaned his head into the storage unit before closing the door. “Oh, and Reema, one more thing. No one is to touch my human, you understand? She’s mine, and believe me when I say, I will kill for her.”
Reema nodded. “Understood, sir. I’ll let everyone know.”
Grom nodded in return, closed the door, and set his gaze on his new prize, a slight smile curling at the side of his mouth.
5
The Beautiful Engineer
As Grom and his captive made their way through the dilapidated museum of scrap metal that was the rogue ship, Sarah couldn’t help but take notice of all the loose screws and rusted parts. I can’t believe this flying garbage heap is what seized the shuttle, Sarah thought. She looked back at Grom who had just poked her in the back with his gamma-blaster and motioned for her to go down the hall on her right. I can’t believe this barbarous, blue-skinned prick is what seized me.
The two came around a bend in the hallway, and Sarah noticed the small, outdated gravity drive installed on the wall to her left. It was emanating a faint, high pitched humming sound.
“Your gravity drive is due to go any day now,” Sarah said, leaning in closer to get a better look at the machine.
“What are you talking about?” Grom
grabbed Sarah’s arm roughly and faced her towards him.
“Can’t you hear that sound?”
Grom listened quietly for a moment, then frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s the sound of a dying drive.”
The Kylen’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”
“I work in a ship shop.”
Grom let out a deep, bellowing laugh. “You?” He shook Sarah by the shoulders. “A skinny little thing like you workin’ with the big boys? I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true. I’m apprenticing while I’m going to school for ship design.”
“Do you really think I’m that stupid. You’re just trying to stall. Now shut up and keep moving.”
“Stalling is the opposite of what I’d want to do right now. I’m telling you, that thing is on its last leg, and when it goes out, the whole ship will lose gravity and will be near impossible to navigate.”
“Listen, human, if I stopped to do a maintenance check every time a part of my ship made the slightest little noise, I wouldn’t get a damn thing done. This ship may be old, but she’s strong, and I know her better than you do.”
Now it was Sarah’s turn to laugh. “I bet you can’t even tell me what model she is.”
Grom answered without hesitation, “Slipsteam F5.”
“Wrong. It’s an F6. You can tell by the width of the hallways and the double plated windows.” Sarah began to pace tauntingly in front of Grom. “The F5’s were nothing more than speed-of-light death traps. Galactic regulations made them change a few things for the F6, inside and out. They didn’t make them much safer; it was really just for show.”
“When I came into command over the ship, I was told it was an F5.” Grom said, clearly trying not to sound as irritated as he felt.
“I’m sure whoever you got it from thought it was an F5 too. Most dealers lie about F5s vs. F6s because F5 parts are much easier to find. They sold a lot of F5s when the ships first hit the market, but by the time the F6s rolled out, most people had caught on to how poorly made the Slipsteams truly were, and nobody was buying. I’m surprised no one on your ship could tell the difference. What kind of half-witted crew are you working with?”
Grom let out a quiet growl. “I will now allow my ship, or my crew, to be insulted by some insignificant little smartass.”
Sarah smiled sweetly. Realizing that her situation could not possibly get any worse, she had felt empowered to speak her mind. But catching a glance at Grom’s intimidating teeth cautioned her. “This problem is very common on F6s. The gravity drives are often the last parts to be installed on a ship, and sometimes workers get lazy. Look, there’s no harm in double checking, right? You have a maintenance person, I presume?”
“Of course I have a maintenance person!”
“Great, then have him come down and take a look. If I’m right, then I will have just saved us all from an incredibly painful journey and saved your current mission. And, if I’m wrong—which I’m not—I’m sure you’ll take it out on me however you see fit.”
Grom mumbled something in a language Sarah wasn’t familiar with and went to the communication panel next to the gravity drive. Pressing the green button he spoke, “Wex, you there?”
“Present, sir.” Wex’s voice came through a bit muffled, but audible.
“I need you to come check on the gravity drive.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
Grom hesitated. Sarah attempted to intervene.
“Tell him it appears that the circulator—a”
“You do not give me orders!” Grom yelled at Sarah before pressing the button. “God dammit, Wex, I don’t know what’s wrong with it! You’re the engineer, not me. All I know is it’s busted, just like your ass will be if you don’t get down here this instant.”
“Copy that. Be down in a sec.”
Grom’s tantrum did not phase Sarah. She knew she was right about the drive, and as they waited for Wex, she started to take note of all the other aspects of the ship that could use fixing, thinking maybe she could use her expertise as leverage when the time came.
It took Wex all of three seconds to confirm Sarah’s suspicions.
“Yup, boss, this thing is singing it’s swan song, alright. I give it another one, maybe two jump points.”
“Why didn’t we know about this sooner?” Grom yelled.
“I checked it before we took off, made note that we should get a new one before the next trip. It was all in the report I gave you.” The short, stocky alien gave Grom a look. “You did read it, right?”
“I, uh, well, I looked it over, yes—”
“You thought you could go another whole mission on this thing?” Sarah interrupted. “What kind of maintenance man are you?”
“Well, first of all, I’m not a ‘man.’ Men are disgusting creatures and I feel insulted you would place such a label on me. And secondly, we would have made it just fine, except the captain here was so stubborn about getting that shuttle, even though Jent had completely botched the mission—”
“That’s enough!” Grom slammed his fist into the wall to underline his point. “How do we fix it?”
“You don’t,” said Sarah.
“She’s right.” Wex pointed to the screen on the gravity drive. “At this point, we have no choice but to replace it.”
“You should really just replace the whole ship, if we’re being honest here,” Sarah added.
Grom laughed, but quickly covered it up with a cough. “We, uh, we don’t have the funds for that. We’ll have to start with the drive. Where is the nearest port with a semi-decent shop?”
“Just a jump and skip,” Wex said with a smile. “We can make it.”
“Alright then, get us on course.” Wex gave his boss a comically rehearsed salute and left. Grom turned back to Sarah. “Well, I guess it appears you may serve a greater purpose after all. You have until we land at the next port to demonstrate your use again, or I sell you, got it?”
Sarah eyed Grom, “Does this mean you’re not going to—”
“You’ll sleep in the spare chambers next to the storage room.”
Sarah nodded.
“Well, go on then.” Grom pointed down the hall back towards whence they came.
As Sarah made her way past the Kylen, she paused. “Could you, maybe…” She turned around and lifted her tied hands up.
“Oh, well.” Grom looked taken aback by her request. Over the course of their brief time together, it seemed like Grom had gone from feeling indifference towards Sarah, to hating her, to now beginning to like her just a little bit, even if he didn’t quite trust her. The Kylen stood there, looking at the Sarah. She had no idea what he could be thinking. Instead of voicing his thoughts, he pulled a knife from the belt he wore low on his waist, cut the ropes binding Sarah, and turned her around gently. “I’ll re-tie them in front.” As he grabbed for her hands, he seemed to have noticed the rope burns on her wrists. “I’ll make them a bit looser too. There you go.”
Saying nothing, Sarah simply gave Grom a sad, but grateful look, turned, and left.
6
A Trip to the Doctor’s
Sarah mumbled as she traveled through the murky waters of semi-consciousness. She had been dreaming about her parents again, only this time she was imagining the moment they heard the news that her shuttle never arrived on Earth. The dream became a nightmare as her mother broke down and started screaming at the officers who had relayed the news, and her father fell into a fiery coughing fit.
“Dad, no, it’s okay, I’m okay,” she muttered. “Everything will be okay.”
A sharp pinch in Sarah’s left arm brought her fully back to the waking world. Her eyes flew open just in time to see a figure standing over her, drawing her blood into a large syringe.
“Hey!” Sarah tried to sit up but realized that she had been bound to her bunk sometime in the night. “What are you doing? Stop that!” Looking down at the straps, she remembered how the Haraldie woman had ripped her shir
t off the day before, and as the rest of yesterday’s events started coming back to her, Sarah found it difficult to breath.
The man turned around, allowing the light to illuminate his person. With both confusion and relief, Sarah realized he was human.
“I’m very sorry, Ms. Dawson, I tried to wake you before I put the needle in, but you must have been enjoying your dream too much.” The man smiled and grabbed a glass culture tube from the pocket of his lab coat.
“I—how—how did you know my name?” There were a lot of more pressing questions Sarah wished to ask, but she was having trouble finding the words, so she started with the simplest.
“I made Jent hand over your wallet. All the money’s gone, as is to be expected, but I found your ID. I wanted to see if you had any medical cards, in case you were allergic to something.”
“Who are you?”
“Dr. Nickleby, but you can call me Nickle, everyone else does. It’s just another one of the many ways this crew tries to demean me on a daily basis. But they won’t break me, no sir, they won’t break me.” The doctor seemed to be speaking more to himself than to Sarah. He pushed her blood from the syringe into the culture tube and gave the glass vile a little ceremonial swirl.
“But you’re human. Why are you working with a crew like this? Don’t you know what they do to humans?”
“I know all too well what they do to us. I’m the one that has to patch all their victims up after the fact.”
“So then why—”
“My dear, do you really think I have a choice in the matter?” He put her blood back into his pocket and pulled the stethoscope from his neck. “May I?” He motioned to her with the stethoscope.
“Do you really think I have a choice in this matter?” Sarah said bitterly. The doctor did not move any closer, rather he waited to get her true consent. “Yes, go ahead.”
The doctor was careful not to touch her with his hands, only the stethoscope. Sarah appreciated his respectful approach and was intensely happy to see a kind face, but that didn’t stop her from continuing her line of questioning.
Captain’s Claimed Property Page 3
