by C. F. Harris
"Are you sure this place is the Imperium location Captain?" Keva asked.
I glanced around the place. Music blasted from all directions. Apparently this civilization had mastered electronic music. I was going to have to have the good doctor take a look at my ears when we got back to the ship. I was sure there’d be long-term damage otherwise. This racket was worse than being in the middle of a pitched battle!
"I don't know. I could have been wrong," I said. "Then again, if you were going to try and find women then a place like this where they come flocking would be ideal."
"They could just be picking women up from off of the streets and we’d never know while we're wasting time in here," Jorel said.
He stared at a scanner. Not that I had to worry about being too obvious about technology. It seemed all the women, and even some of the men up on stage, had primitive communication devices that looked a lot like our own tech. Glowing screens that no doubt connected them to some planetary network. Another surprise from this world out in the middle of uncharted space where we’d only ever found primitives.
The surprises just kept coming.
I looked around one more time. "I think we need to stay here for just a little longer," I said.
"That's just fine with me," Keva said.
I glanced at her again. Her mouth hung open. She stared in rapt concentration at the gentleman up on stage at the moment. He had on a loincloth that seemed to be made of some sort of animal skin. Yellowish with black spots all over it. I wondered what kind of animal that was on this world.
Maybe it was a cat. One of the constants of worlds where humans had settled was the cats. I hadn’t discovered a planet where the murderous bastards didn’t live. All you could do was hope this was a world where they hadn’t evolved to be large enough that their unique brand of aloof love could very quickly turn deadly.
I looked around the room again. There were no signs of Imperium agents anywhere. I wondered if I really had been wrong. It seemed like such a good hunch, too.
Then again, there were plenty of clubs that catered to men. There would be plenty of women there performing and doing the same things the men were doing up on stage in this club. And yet that didn't feel right to me.
I watched as one of the men broke off from his dance up on stage and moved over to a group of women sitting at a table. The women on this planet were definitely quite fetching. At least some of them. Certainly exotic beauties that could rival any of the worlds I'd landed on. Just different enough from home to be intriguing, but also close enough to home that the similarities were eerie at times.
Basically on a technologically sound world there wasn’t as much of a cultural divide to bridge. That could make things very interesting if I ever got done with this whole Imperium chasing business and had some time to do some proper exploration on this world.
One of the girls spoke with the dancer for a moment, and then broke free from her group of friends with a huge grin on her face. The guy took her hand and led her across the room. I kept a close eye on them. This was interesting.
He led the woman over to a door on the far end of the club. They disappeared inside. And they didn't come back out. I wondered what was behind that door. I had a sneaking suspicion it was Rethvar and his cronies.
Now that I knew what to look for, I saw several women doing the same thing. A man would come over, they would talk for a moment, and then they would disappear on the other side of the club behind that door. I wondered if this location was actually a front for sex workers. It wouldn't be the first time I'd seen males doing that line of work. Then again there was so much different about this world.
That door, though, it worried me. There was something about it that I found disquieting.
I turned my attention back to the men on stage. More specifically to Keva eying the men on stage. I leaned in closer to her. "You don't think he's better looking than me, do you?"
Keva turned to me and smiled. "why captain. Is that a touch of jealousy i detect in your voice?"
"Nothing of the sort," I said. "Just wondering how I stack up to the locals. Plus I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to give you a chance to comment. Usually it's the local women that we're getting all hot and bothered about."
"The gentleman at this club are certainly quite interesting," Keva said.
She turned and looked me up and down. A look that made me really wish we didn't have Jorel the security grunt here with us. "But you had to know these guys wouldn't compare to the best the fleet has to offer."
I grinned and leaned in to bump her with my shoulder. "You're flattering your captain."
“Well don’t think I’m flattering you angling for a repeat of what happened on Arvost Station,” she said.
“You mean when I singlehandedly defeated that alien plague virus in hand to hand combat? I think my poor shirt got ripped in that fight,” I said.
“I’m talking about after,” she said. “Now you looked like you were onto something. Go figure it out.”
I sighed. Yeah, that was going to be an end to the fun. Not that we could have all that much fun with a third hanging out with us. So back to work it was.
I watched that door carefully to see if any of the same girls came out of it after going in. I sat and watched for a good long while. Long enough for at least six of the local musical numbers to go by. For several dancers to go on stage and leave.
I was starting to get the beginnings of a headache by the time I was done with my reconnaissance, but I was sure. We'd found the right place. Something was going on here. There was no way all the women being pulled up there were staying up there for that long. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.
I smelled an Imperium rat.
Rats. Now there was another interesting species. They seemed to have made their way to almost every world that had been populated by humans right along with the cats. It was like you couldn't have the one without the other. There was at least one world that had been completely dominated by the little bastards after they ate all the original life on said world. They’d since evolved to fill every biological niche, except for the ones being filled by the cats, of course, which were also still on that world and living it up on the feast of rats.
That was beside the point, though. No, what I needed to worry about now was the rat in an Imperium uniform that was lurking in this building somewhere. I leaned in closer to Keva.
"There's something going down here," I said.
She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"That door over there. Women are going in, but they aren't coming out."
"So what do we do?"
I looked around the room again. Turned to her and smiled. "How would you like to get some local flavor while helping out your captain at the same time?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"You're the only female on this mission. How would you feel about acting as bait?"
Keva reached under the table and I felt her pat the blaster she had hidden there. "If you want me to be bait that's just fine with me. What do I do?"
I nodded over towards the door. "Those dancers are coming up and taking women into that door. Presumably it's some sort of back room where they give private dances on a normal night."
"The bastards. They’re using sex to lure the women, not religion," she said.
"That's right. So are you up to heading out there and seeing what's going on?"
"You know it captain," she said.
"Great. Now we just have to get the attention of one of these dancers."
I dug out some of the paper money we'd gotten from disintegrating one of the strange machines where they stored the stuff. I imagined it would confuse the hell out of the local constabulary, particularly when they got the pictures of us using the disintegrator. Assuming the camera in the thing hadn't been destroyed before it had a chance to get our picture. I didn't have time for niceties though. A smash and grab was unfortunately necessary.
I handed some of the paper money to Keva.
"Here. Wave this in the air. I imagine that will get their attention no problem."
Keva looked down at the money skeptically, but she did as she was told and held it up in the air. And sure enough that brought the attention of one of the dancers almost immediately. He stepped over with a vacant smile, pretty much a vacant look all around, and looked down at Keva with a smile that never quite reached his eyes. Actually, as I looked at him it seemed that no emotion really reached his eyes.
What was going on here?
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"I was hoping for a private dance?" Keva asked.
On a hunch I leaned in close to Jorel and whispered, though with the loud noises surrounding us it was really more of a shout that I hoped wasn’t loud enough for the dancer to notice. "I want you to do a scan. See if there's anything being used that resembles Imperium mind control devices."
"On it captain," he said.
Meanwhile the dancer reached down and took Keva’s hand. Led her back towards that same door so many women had disappeared through this evening. I felt a moment's hesitation as I watched her. I always hated ordering my crew to go off into an unknown danger, but at the same time I figured she could take care of herself. She was pretty bad ass, and she was also far better armed than anyone else who'd gone back there. I figured if anyone could take care of herself it was Keva.
I'd tossed the dice. What was going to happen was going to happen. And so I returned my attention to the rest of the room. Tried to really get a look at the dancers now that I’d seen one up close. Now that I knew what to look for they all had that same vacant expression, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t because they were all chosen more for their looks than their intelligence.
No, there was something going on here.
It was while I was looking around the room that I spotted her coming in with a group of women who seemed to be out for a good time from the way they were laughing. They also seemed to be more than a little inebriated already.
I glanced down at the drink in my own hand. I had no idea whether or not the amount they charged for the drinks here was ridiculously expensive, but if the bars on my own world were any indication then it was probably worth it to get good and drunk before coming out to a place like this and paying a premium. Funny how some things could be universally true no matter what world you were on.
I was taken by the one in front who looked a little less drunk than the rest of her group. She was beautiful. Easily the single most attractive creature I'd ever seen on any of the worlds I'd visited, my own included.
Maybe it was because this was a semi-technologically advanced world. Maybe it was because she wore something that almost approached a fashion that I’d see on the home world. Maybe it was the way she carried herself. Whatever the reason, this woman was gorgeous. Long flowing hair. Beautiful eyes. I couldn't help but stare. She was everything I'd imagined in a girl and then some.
"I think I've got something Captain," Jorel said.
I reluctantly turned my attention away from that woman, but I couldn't help but glance over at her every once in a while. And as she surveyed the room she looked at me. Our eyes met for a brief moment and electricity shot through me. It was like her eyes were a blaster and she'd hit me directly in the heart. Damn!
But I had to get back to work. Local beauties were all well and good, but fun was something that you had after the Imperium agents were defeated. Not before.
I sighed. This Rethvar was good. On the last world he’d ruined my off world dalliance after it happened. On this world he’d graduated to ruining it before I even had a chance to meet the girl.
A damn shame, but there was work to do.
6
Melissa
I stepped into the club and took a moment to take in the sights. The sounds. The feelings washing over me. Quite literally. They were playing the bass loud enough that it was giving me one hell of a feeling, if you catch my drift.
I looked at the dancers up on stage. God they were so hot. It was unfair for men to look that delicious. They also reminded me of Jake. The asshole. I didn't want to think about him right now. No, I just wanted to think about having fun with the girls.
"This is awesome!" Vanessa shouted.
"You've got that right!" Danielle said.
I glanced over to Tiffany and was surprised to see that even she had a smile plastered on her face. Well then. I figured it would be my job as the girl organizing tonight's festivities to try and draw Tiffany out. Make sure she had a good time. From the way she was staring, slack-jawed at the men doing their thing up on stage, though, maybe I wouldn't have to do that after all. That was promising.
"So are we ready to get our party on?" I shouted.
I was greeted with a chorus of giggles and shouts. Yeah, this was going to be one hell of a fun evening. This was going to be the sort of evening that I needed after my pseudo-breakup with Jake. I hoped he was enjoying himself at his apartment, probably jerking off because he wouldn't have me as his pleasure toy any longer. The guy could go fuck himself.
Literally.
Okay so he was probably really out with his fiancee having a good time and not giving me a second thought. I liked to think the asshole was out there somewhere pining over me, though.
"God these guys are hot!" Danielle said.
"Fuck yeah they are!"
Everyone in our small group turned to stare in astonishment. That last statement came from none other than Tiffany. She stood there staring up at the stage with a stupid goofy grin on her face. I shook my head.
How about that? It turns out that all it took to get the good girl to go a little wild was to put some muscular flesh in front of her. Talk about crazy.
I glanced up to the stage to enjoy the sights on offer myself. And boy were they quite enjoyable sights. The guys up there looked too good to be true. They were absolutely delicious. I wanted to jump up on stage and run my tongue all up and down their abs. They were that fucking hot.
Yeah, Jake didn't hold a candle to these guys.
Though there did seem to be something odd about the way they moved up there on stage. Some of their dance moves were a little stilted. Almost robotic. And they stared out at the crowds with glazed looks rather than the smiles I would've expected from male strippers who had to work hard for their money.
Whatever. At a place like this I figured there was a pretty good chance they were all on something. Not to mention there was a good chance some of these guys were chosen for their good looks rather than their dancing ability.
I peered around the room. I needed to figure out where the hell the DJ booth was. I had a bit of scheduled fun ready for Vanessa, and I wanted to make sure she didn't miss her appointment with the gentlemen on stage. Even if they were dancing the robot.
I finally spotted it over in a corner. A guy who looked a touch overweight leaned against a laptop looking supremely bored. Definitely nothing like any of the guys on stage. He wouldn't have looked at all out of place at a female strip club, but here with all of these perfectly sculpted gods on display he did look out of place just a bit.
The song came to an end and he looked a tad more animated. Briefly. "And that was Cowboy Sexy up on stage dancing to hit new single from Sleepwalker, Jessica's Song!" the DJ said.
I headed over there. After all, I had an appointment to keep. God, I never thought I would say that I had an appointment to keep at a fucking male strip club. The crazy things you did for your best friend at her bachelorette party.
Only when I got over there the guy pointedly ignored me. It was annoying. Finally I cleared my throat and he glanced over, looking even more annoyed than I was.
"What is it?"
"I'm here with the Donovan party," I said.
The guy fixed me with a blank stare. There was none of the recognition that I expected. What the hell was going on here? What was with this guy?
"I'm sorry?" he said.
"The Donovan party? The bachelorette party that was coming out here tonight? I was supposed to get my friend up on stage for a dance with the guys?"
For half a second the guy looked like he almost remembered what I was talking about. Then his face glazed over. Damn it. Was everybody at this club on something? I suppose I shouldn't have expected any better, but it was still annoying. Especially if it was interrupting my carefully planned evening with the girls.
"No dancers on stage tonight," he said in a voice that was devoid of any tone or emotion. "Only private dances."
"Are you fucking serious? I paid a hundred dollars to reserve that dance for her!"
"No dancers on stage tonight," he said in the exact same monotone. What the fuck was going on with the people at this place?
I let out a growl of frustration. "Fine! You can bet your ass I'm going to be calling you guys for a refund later, and I'm going to my credit card company for a chargeback if you try to dick me around!"
"Only private dances," he repeated.
There was a pause. The guy didn't seem to be doing much of anything for a moment. What the hell? The song ended and everybody in the club turned to look at us. Even the dancer on stage looked annoyed, coming out of his glazed over stupor for just a moment.
The DJ shook his head and looked at me again, irritated, and it seemed like he was back in the real world. He was out of whatever funk had just taken him.
"Who are you and what the hell do you want?" he asked.
I rolled my eyes and growled. "Go fuck yourself!"
"Fuck you too! Don't make me call a bouncer!"
I turned and stalked back to the girls, but not before flipping the guy the bird for good measure. I hoped that wouldn't be enough to piss him off to the point of calling the bouncers like he threatened. The last thing I wanted was to ruin Vanessa’s special night by getting us thrown out. Or by getting myself thrown out. Of course that asshole had already gone a long way towards ruining her special night anyways. I'd promised she was getting up on stage, and now it looked like that wasn't happening.
