by C. F. Harris
Confusion. Oh yeah, this guy was good. Of course Rethvar would’ve told him that someone might come around asking questions about their operation. I should’ve known he’d been prepared. Rethvar had gotten one hell of a good agent, too. I almost believed that he had no idea what I was talking about.
Almost.
“I’m sorry my boy, but you might have the wrong place. If you’re looking for a nice woman there are any number of bars that have sprung up in this neighborhood to fill that need,” he said with a grimace that made it clear he didn’t approve of these bars.
I moved in close to him. He blinked and tried to take a step back but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him in. Confusion turned to indignance, but there was no intimidation there. Yeah, a cool customer for sure.
“Look. I know your god has come down from the heavens and demanded your women, but that’s a false god. I can help you,” I said.
I was surprised by the priest’s strength. He gave me a good shove that loosened my grip. I took a couple of steps back and immediately Jorel was there with his blaster at his side ready for trouble. I held a calming hand out. It wouldn’t do for us to start firing off energy weapons. I was starting to think this guy might actually be telling the truth, for one. Plus firing our sort of weapons was bound to draw in the local enforcers while also giving our position away to Rethvar if he was smart enough to run a scan on his area.
I had a pretty good feeling he was smart enough to run a tech scan. I know I would, and this guy was good.
“Look, I’m about tired of you atheist types coming in here to cause trouble. I don’t want to have to call the police, but I will if you persist in harassing me! You’re worse than the drunks,” the priest said before muttering something about how this neighborhood was going to hell around him and he couldn’t wait until something called a “bishop” closed this place down for good and reassigned him somewhere else.
Those weren’t the mutterings of a man who was being used in an intergalactic hominid-trafficking operation.
I looked back to Keva and Jorel. “I think this guy is telling the truth. They’re not using the religious gambit on this world.”
“How can you be sure?” Keva asked.
I looked around the place and something about his words and the general upkeep struck me. Paint was peeling in the corners. There was a thin layer of dust on the seating except for the first few rows. The place was clean and well maintained otherwise, but it had the look of a place that was rapidly falling into disuse.
“The religion must not be that powerful on this part of the planet. Of course they wouldn’t use the gods gambit,” I muttered.
“I’ll have you know I am a servant of the Church immortal!” the local shaman said, fire coming to his voice for the first time since we came into his place of worship.
I waved a hand at him. “Yeah, yeah, that’s nice and all, but I’ve heard that on so many worlds at this point that I’ve given up trying to figure out who’s right.”
The medicine man was brought up short by that. His mouth worked for a moment but nothing came out. Oops. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned other worlds. Technologically advanced worlds like this one that were on the cusp of spaceflight themselves could be touchy about people visiting from other worlds. They actually knew it was possible, at least.
“I think you might need mental help, but I’m not the one to give it to you,” he said. “Leave now and I won’t call the police.”
I shook my head and motioned for Keva and Jorel to follow me back out of this rapidly dilapidating place of worship. There was nothing for us here, which was a damn shame considering it would’ve been easy to roll in here, apprehend Rethvar, and call it a day. Assuming repairs got done fast enough on the ship that they could roll in and teleport us out of here without Rethvar’s ship getting involved.
Once we were outside, back on the steps of the house of worship, I sat down and looked around. Really looked at our surroundings.
“Sir?” Keva asked.
“I was so focused on the religious gambit they pulled on the last planet that I didn’t stop to really look at this planet,” I said.
Now I was really looking at our surroundings, though. It looked familiar enough. Entertainment places all along a city street with the local wheeled conveyances that operated on old fashioned hydrocarbons moving through the crowds of people in a complicated dance that miraculously didn’t seem to result in anyone getting injured.
Entertainment. People out having fun. People out looking to have a good time and probably find someone for a little bit of mating for the evening. It was so close to the night life on my own world that it almost made me homesick, though of course a few things were out of place. The vehicles on wheels, for example. Or the way people crossed the streets at the street level rather than simply using force fields to levitate over the dangerous traffic. It also seemed that the people on this world piloted their own vehicles on the ground and used lights to control their movement rather than being sensible and letting computers do all the driving.
What a strange new world this was.
Also? The only sign of religion was this one building in the middle of all of this. Something told me the people in this area may have been more pious once upon a time, but that once upon a time was long ago. I should’ve realized this world was far too technologically advanced for the whole “gods descending from the heavens” thing to work.
No, if Rethvar was out here looking for women then he’d be somewhere else.
The question was, where would women congregate on this world where it would make it easy for a wily alien slaver to grab them without anyone being any the wiser?
“I’m running a scan, but it’s difficult to pin anything down as truly advanced technology with all the interference I’m getting from the local electronics,” Keva said.
My eyes ran down the street. Along billboards set up advertising various clubs. And my eyes came to rest on a billboard that had a row of muscular men dressed in practically nothing. I smiled. Was it really going to be that obvious? I hoped so.
“I know where they are,” I said.
Keva blinked. “You do sir?”
“Just a hunch, but I think it’s a pretty good one and it’s not that far from here. We’re going for a little walk.”
4
Melissa
"To ladies night!"
A drunken chorus greeted me. "Ladies night!"
"And to Vanessa!"
"To Vanessa!" The girls shouted all around me in a fit of giggles.
All of us lifted our shots. Downed them in one gulp and slammed them down on the kitchen counter. I looked over to Vanessa. She was positively radiant and smiling, and it was obvious she was already a little wobbly on her feet. She looked a little weird wearing that "bride" sash around her shoulder.
That was going to take some getting used to. Vanessa, my best friend in the whole world, going off to get married. She was going to be living with a boy!
Still, it was my duty as maid of honor to act happy for her. And to give her the best damn bachelorette party money could buy. At least what little money the girls made with our jobs straight out of college. Which wasn't much.
"I can't believe you did this Melissa," she said. "This is great!"
"You have no idea," Megan said. "Wait until you see what else she has planned!"
"Keep it down," Sarah said. "Melissa’s supposed to be the one breaking out all the big surprises!"
I rolled my eyes, but kept the smile plastered on my face. "It's okay. I know you're all excited."
"What's she talking about?" Vanessa asked.
I grinned. Reached into my purse. A small model designed for going out on the town. Pulled out tickets and fanned them out. One for each of us. There was a picture of a sexy barely dressed man on each of them, muscles positively rippling.
"Oh my God, you didn't!" Vanessa said, devolving into a fit of giggles even as she said it.
I grinned. "Oh
yes I did!"
All the other girls fell into fits of giggles. It was pretty obvious where we were going tonight from the tickets. They had the same image on them as the giant billboards all around town advertising the place. A new male strip club known as "Another World."
If the advertisement was anything to go on, it promised to transport us to a completely new world of pleasure with the sexy men they had on display there. I figured if the guys were even half as sexy as what they had on their billboards, tickets, and their online advertising, then we were in for a pretty good time.
"I can't believe you're taking me to a male strip club for my bachelorette party," Vanessa slurred.
Oh yes. She’d definitely been a little too much into the drink already. Those shots were maybe a little too much for her.
"That is a little a typical," Megan said.
I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you complaining?"
"No! Not at all!"
"The place is supposed to be so hot," Danielle said. She had a look of excitement in her eyes. "I know a group of girls who went out there on Thursday, and they must've had one hell of a good time because they didn't even come in to work today!"
I shook my head and grinned.
"I don't know," Tiffany said. "Couldn’t we just go out and have drinks at a regular club or something?"
I favored Tiffany with a sympathetic smile. Not too sympathetic to, mind you. But sympathetic nonetheless. I'd worried when I first set this up that a male strip club might be a little much for her. Luckily I didn't have to deal with her reluctance. Not directly.
"Come on," Danielle said. "Live a little! It's not like Jesus is going to hit you with lightning bolts because you go to one male strip club!"
"Fuck off of Danielle," Tiffany said.
I held my hands up. "Ladies! Please. This is a supposed to be Vanessa's night. That means you all need to keep it under control. And we all need to play nice, got it?"
I pointedly looked between Danielle and Tiffany. Those two barely tolerated each other on a good night. I suppose it was inevitable in any large group of girls that you would have a couple who didn't get along. It was almost a shame those two got along so well with the rest of us. Otherwise it would be easy to just to get rid of one of them.
Tonight really wasn't a night to think about that sort of thing, though. No, tonight was a night to celebrate Vanessa.
"Melissa is right!" Vanessa said. "Watch yourselves or I'll go all bridezilla on you!"
All the girls let out mock terrified sounds, but they all went back to playing nice after that. Though Tiffany and Danielle were giving each other dirty looks. I suppose that was about as best as could be expected.
"If somebody doesn't want to go to the club tonight then that's fine. No pressure. But this is sort of what I had planned, and these tickets were expensive and nonrefundable, so…"
"No way am I missing this!" Megan said. "This place is supposed to be awesome!"
"Right!" Vanessa said. "I'm the bride and I say it's okay for all of us to go. It’s just one night."
"Trust me," I said. "I promise we’re all going to have a wonderful time out at the club tonight!"
Tiffany hit me with a skeptical look. A look that clearly communicated that she was going to do her damned best to try and keep from having a good time. I sighed. I suppose getting her to go along was the best that could be expected.
Getting her to actually enjoy it? That would take a miracle. A miracle that would likely fall on me to engineer since I was the one planning this evening in the first place. Damn it.
"You're damn right we’re going to have a good time!" Vanessa shouted. "I think I need another drink before we go out! This is going to be awesome!"
Danielle went back to the counter and poured more drinks. I tried not to think about how much those drinks cost. It was going to be a real pain in the ass paying for all of this if it turned out I lost my job on Monday for what I'd done earlier. Then again, the company usually preferred to fire people at the end of the week rather than at the beginning. I could probably count on at least one more week of pay.
Either way, I needed to start looking for a new job, and now.
I moved over and took a drink of my own. I figured there wasn't any harm in doing that. After all, I'd hired a car to drive us around. I figured it was the least I could do for my best friend. I'd expect her to do the same if it was me getting married. Not that it seemed like anything like that was going to happen anytime soon considering my recent track record with men.
It was a damn shame.
We all raised our glasses again. "To Vanessa!" Danielle shouted. "And to the sexy men of Another World!"
Everyone but Tiffany grinned and raised their glasses to that, but at least Tiffany took a drink. Maybe she would down enough to loosen up by the time we got to the club. I could hope.
After I downed my drink I felt someone sidle up next to me. Vanessa leaned in close and whispered, though she was already so far gone that the whisper was loud enough that everybody around the table could hear her loud and clear.
"So does this place offer any sort of special treatment for bridal parties?" she asked in a terrible stage whisper.
I grinned. "What ever are you talking about Vanessa? You wouldn't be thinking of doing something that might upset your husband to be, would you?"
She smiled and giggled, and the other girls around the table joined in on the giggling. Yeah, they could definitely overhear her. Though I had a feeling that was entirely intentional on her part.
"It's okay if it's at the bachelorette party," she said. "It doesn't count. You know that!"
I fixed Vanessa with what I hoped was a sufficiently skeptical stare. Something told me her man wasn't going to see things that way.
"And how would you feel if you found out that David was going out and having fun with some strippers?"
Vanessa waved a dismissive hand. "I already told him to have a good time! Like I said, it doesn’t count if it’s at the bachelor/bachelorette party. So what's the plan for tonight? I know you’ve planned something good."
I grinned and shook my head. She gave David permission to have whatever fun he wanted? And he gave her that same permission in turn? They were taking a very libertine view of this whole getting married thing, but if it worked for them I wasn’t going to knock it.
Besides, Vanessa really did know me too well. She knew the kind of the devious planning I liked. More than anything, she knew that I liked to try and deceive people up until the last moment, but there was no deceiving my best friend.
"Okay, so I might have arranged something special with the club, but you're going to have to wait until we get there to find out what that something special is."
All the girls yelled. Apparently that news was good enough for another shot. Which was just fine with me, though I only did about half of it this time. This wasn’t like the old days in college when I could really pack the stuff away. No, I'd gotten to a point in my life when I had to watch what I drank or I’d regret it the next morning.
Just another sign of getting old, even though I was still only just a couple of years away from those college days. Funny how fast getting old could sneak up on you once you hit the real world.
"So what are we waiting for? We need to get this show on the road!" Vanessa shouted.
I glanced down at my watch. Then I pulled out my phone. A moment later I got a text from the driver. I smiled. Sure enough, they were right on time.
"Looks like the driver is waiting for us down at the entrance, so we should probably get going," I said.
"Let's get going!" Vanessa said.
She started for the door, but I stopped her by grabbing her arm. She did a little twirl and almost went sprawling. I winced as I thought of her falling and breaking something before her wedding. That would be just perfect. And I’d be the one to blame. Or at least I’d be the one who got the blame, even if she was the one who was three sheets to the wind.
"No d
rinking in the car! Those drinks cost an arm and a leg, and it's all going on my credit card!"
Even if I groused about the cost of booze here in the apartment, it was a cost I was more than happy to pay because it was a hell of a lot cheaper than what the stuff would cost in the car or when we got to the club. Though everyone was on their own when they got to the club, so maybe I hadn’t thought this through all that well to begin with.
Besides, I was worried that if there was drinking in the car on the way over there everyone would be too stumbling and close to blackout drunk to actually enjoy themselves. No, I wanted everybody to be completely with it when we had our fun.
"Fine, party pooper," Vanessa said. "Now let's get going! The night's not getting any younger!"
And with that we all filed out of the room, off to meet our fates at Another World.
5
Flin
Lights flashed everywhere. Women screamed all around us. If this wasn't a world that was about a hundred light years removed I would swear I was back at the Imperium slaver station on Kirok XVII when the Fleet finally liberated it. Only we weren't. We were on some world that was far more technologically advanced than what I usually saw, but at the same time it was still something of a backwater. A real study in contradictions.
You never knew what you were going to find when you went out on a mission.
I stared up at the men dancing on stage. Muscular men. Men who made even the best in the Fleet look downright runty in comparison. Men who obviously spent all their time trying to make themselves as ripped and buff as possible.
Judging from the screams of the women all around us in this establishment, they were doing their job just right.
I looked over to Jorel. His eyes darted in every direction. Yeah, the security guy didn't like being stuck in a place where he couldn't tell if there was an attack coming because of all the sensory overload. I turned to Keva. Smiled.
Keva looked like she was enjoying the show quite a bit. And I figured why not? She might as well enjoy her fun. So often it was the exotic woman wearing hardly anything that the male crew got to enjoy. I'm sure Keva was enjoying being on a world where the eye candy was geared more towards her proclivities.
