by Layla Stone
Her mom urged her forward as they passed small shacks made of all kinds of materials. The smells of rotten food, body odor, and feces were overwhelming. Every step Sasha took, she refused to think about the sticky or squishy substance underfoot.
Jandy had never taken her to her home in the Dowach, and now she wondered if these sights and smells were why.
"I'm going to puke," Sasha warned. Jandy took out a small, folded cloth and moved it over Sasha’s nose. The smell was fragrant and eased her stomach. Jandy tucked it back into a baggie, and they kept walking at a breakneck pace.
Once the smell started to subside, Sasha was able to think. To her mom, she said, "You mentioned that the madame told Donil to wait until I was eighteen, but I'm twenty-six now."
Her mother nodded without looking back. "Donil was not happy about the wait, so he bought another girl. Jandy’s mother is the one who found out he was talking to Madame Allure again to purchase you. Her mom still has contacts in Allure's stable."
Jandy held up her hand when a group of unkempt-looking males with glazed, unfocused eyes came stumbling out of a hut. Clearly, they were drugged, exiting a sky-house.
Jandy held Sasha and her mother in place until the males were long out of sight. "My mother told me, and I told Joan. She has been looking for a way to get you off-planet since."
That made Sasha stop. "How long have you known?"
Jandy exhaled slowly. "Four months."
Sasha felt tightness in her chest. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have done something." She glared at her mother for keeping silent on this, as well.
Her best friend shook her head. "No, there was nothing you could have done."
"That’s why you were so angry that I wasn’t keeping out of sight."
Jandy didn't answer until they were at the crest of the port. "I need to keep out of sight, as well. Madame Allure thinks I have the same disease my mother has. I am not permitted in the city. But if she ever finds out I’m not sick, I’ll be punished and then forced to work in the lay-houses."
Sasha hadn’t known that. She had assumed Jandy worked in Dowach as a work slave. They took a dark path toward the gates of the spaceport. There was a large visitors’ shack where everyone signed in and out. Allure’s guards were there.
Her mother whispered, "I will be right back. I need to get you access to the port."
Jandy smiled, but it was a sad expression. "Good luck.”
Something wasn’t right. Both Jandy and her mom looked at each other too long. “What’s going on?”
Her mom pulled Sasha into a fierce hug and kissed her brow. “I love you.”
Jandy pointed to the large male standing in front of a small, compact-sized Federation transporter ship. It was rectangular, showing the Federation crest on its side—a blue square intersecting with a white square at the corner. "That's your ride."
Sasha didn't want to leave yet. She was thinking of anything to say, what came out surprised her and Jandy. "I always dreamed of flying to the stars. For years and years, I would look up and wonder how I could get up there. Now, I have my chance, and I don't want to take it because the cost is too high."
Jandy pulled Sasha into a lasting hug. "Xa xi xai jian."
"Hopefully. I will see you again, too." Emotion crested in her voice as she said goodbye to her friend.
“I will come back. I promise.” Sasha’s words shook from the rising emotion within her.
“We’re survivors. We’ll be okay.”
Jandy knew how to be invisible. Sasha hoped on top of luck that Jandy would be okay until she returned for her.
In a whisper, Jandy said, "I always dreamed that I'd get off this planet, find a nice, quiet home with a husband, and raise my kids in a safe place that couldn't hurt them." Sasha had never heard her speak with such reverence. Jandy took a breath and waved as she stepped back.
"After the internship, I’m coming back. And I will take you with me." It was a vow. It was the only way to save the only other person she cared for in the entire vastness of the universe.
Jandy snickered. "You mean buy me? I don’t think that will work out. If you come back, you might be seized by Allure and punished for leaving without her permission."
Joan, who had been scanning the spaceport, abruptly took off.
What the hell? Sasha jumped to grab her mom, who started running past the guards into the port. She was going to get caught! If she were captured, she would be punished, and Madame Allure was a sadistic female known to keep people in her dungeon for years.
Jandy snapped a firm hold on Sasha’s wrist. “Don’t.” Sasha shook her off, but Jandy, being a scrapper, grabbed a fistful of hair, yanking Sasha’s head back until she lost her footing and fell hard onto her back, choking from the impact. “You can't save her. It’s too late."
"Get off me. That’s my mom!" Sasha had never fought before in her life, but she couldn’t let her mom suffer. "You know what will happen if she’s caught."
Jandy kept Sasha down with a dirty boot on her chest. Sasha rocked against the hold until she was free. Sitting up, she watched in terror as two guards tackled her mother.
She could see her mom struggling, and she witnessed the guards’ barbarism. Her mother was cuffed, pulled up, and pushed forward towards the guard shack.
That sight would haunt Sasha for the rest of her life. Her stomach churned, overcome with dread.
"The best thing my mother did for me was getting a doctor to lie and say I had that fatal disease. My mom knew that she was saving me from a horrid life, but she also knew she was cursing me to a life in the Dowach. I thank my mother for what she did to ensure my safety. Don't dishonor what your mother has done for you. She’s provided the distraction necessary to get you on that ship."
Sasha knew by the look in Jandy’s eyes that she was doing the same thing. Sacrificing her happiness for Sasha’s. "I can't get on that ship knowing my mom is suffering, especially if she dies."
"Everyone dies, Sasha. If she dies, your mom is making her death mean something."
Profound and unwelcomed.
Sasha left Jandy, making her way past the visitors’ building and towards the only Federation ship. A large male standing near the ship's plank turned as she approached. She made sure to stand in between the Federation ship and the small sloop that was parked next to it.
The male was copper-skinned and muscular with black swirls starting from the sides of his neck down his shoulders and back, rounding out along his strong arms. An offset triangle on top of an oblong circle graced his neck. He was heavily scarred and only wore a ripped, dusty pair of Federation uniform pants. Sasha couldn’t know his name or rank without a Federation-issued top, but he didn’t look very captain-like.
She hoped he didn’t see the tremor in her hand as she offered it up in a traditional Terran greeting. "Hi, I'm—"
He interrupted, "No."
Her hand dropped quickly. The male probably didn’t know the Terran gesture. "I’m Sasha, the—"
"I don't have time for you, sweetheart," he said dismissively.
Didn't have time? Then it hit her, if she were in a better state of mind, she might have laughed it off, but her indignation was the only thing keeping her standing at present.
He was a Red Demon, a race that was known for fulfilling their partner’s every sensual fantasy. Being on a Lotus planet, he must have mistaken her for someone looking for a quickie in the back of the transporter.
"Um—"
"Seriously, I'm not interested. I'm not going to run a blitz with you." He doubled down on his insult by looking her up and down, making a visible face of disgust.
Annoyed and embarrassed, rage mingled with her blood. Sasha was dying and exploding at the same time. Her mom was with the guards, and everything inside Sasha wanted to run and save her. Every second standing on the blacktop meant she could be caught, snatched up, and end up in front of Madame Allure and Donil.
Sasha
couldn’t let that happen, or her mom’s sacrifice would be wasted.
She didn’t have time for this. "First, I’ll never blitz with a sex demon, and second, I'm your new pilot."
His shoulders straightened, but his head tilted down. Red Demons hated being called sex demons. She knew that, and she used it to get his attention. Sex demons were incubi or succubi. And they were very different from Red Demons. His eyes flashed red, proving to Sasha that he really didn’t like being mislabeled. "I don't think so, sweetheart. You're a Terran, and Terrans can’t pilot."
"Well, at least you got that one right, I am Terran."
The Red Demon rounded back on the transporter's plank and bellowed, "Captain Rannn! You're going to want to hear this." Sasha followed the male onto the ship and into the entryway, unwilling to remain out of the conversation and anxious to get on that ship before she was spotted.
A Yunkin stood in the hall. The male was an inch shorter than the Red Demon. He was powder white with long, pale hair braided in rows. He had eyes of the most crystalline blue, and one side of his face had a striking scar that ran from his scalp to his cheek. The Yunkin was also wearing a ripped and tattered Federation uniform. His ragged top didn’t show his name, but his rank insignia was on the collar.
The captain.
Sasha held her breath. He did not look friendly at all. His narrowed eyes and pinched expression made her wary. She desperately tried to keep her shoulders back, to show no fear.
The Yunkin looked from the Red Demon to Sasha. "Leave the hellcat alone. You don't have time for a blitz, Pax. What were you thinking?"
She snorted.
Wow. Not once did Sasha think she came off as the hellcat type. "That's Sasha, the pilot. Not hellcat, sir." Even though he was intimidating, Sasha would not let him misunderstand her place.
"You hired a Terran as a pilot?" Pax said with a smug smile.
The captain looked her over with narrowed eyes. "I spoke with a Terran woman who said she knew of a pilot. She didn’t clarify that pilot was Terran. I assumed she knew that Terrans have no dexterity. They can't be pilots. Everyone knows this. Where is the woman I spoke to earlier?"
It was impossible for Sasha to speak about her mother at the moment. If she did, she would not be able to hold back the tears. She couldn’t appear weak, and she couldn’t lose this opportunity. "What makes you think I’m only Terran? You’re on a Lotus planet. There tends to be a lot of mixed breeding."
Folding his massive arms over his chest, the captain said, "I don’t believe this.” Sasha assumed he was going to send her home right then, but he asked, “What have you flown?"
"Anything that moves."
The captain clearly didn’t like her answer. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "We don't have time for this. We need a pilot, now." He wasn't talking to her; he was speaking to Pax about her—in front of her.
Rude.
Holding out her arms, she challenged, "Test me."
Rannn peered at Pax and nodded. Pax returned with a Minky pad. “I need an experienced pilot, not only to take the chair on opposite shifts but to fly through an asteroid field. This,”—he took the Minky pad from Pax and tapped on it a few times—“is an exit exam for all pilots in the Federation. If you can pass this, I’ll keep you. If not, you’re gone.” He handed her a screen with a program already running.
At first, she didn’t understand what to do. Several lines were coming at her, and boxes with odd lettering. There was a round ball that moved to the right when she tilted the pad. To see if it was sensitive to the alignment of the pad, she tilted it left.
Yep. Definitely sensitive.
Then the ball crashed into a box, and the screen blinked green and blue.
“Last chance,” Captain Rannn said.
The game started again, and this time, she focused on getting the ball through the series of boxes without crashing into anything. She managed it easily enough and wondered what the fuss was about. At the end of the round, she held out the pad toward the captain.
He shook his head. “That was only level one.”
Oh.
She kept her thoughts to herself and continued to play. Her skin felt tight as all her concentration went to her fingers and eyes—hyper-aware.
She didn’t know how long she stood there before the captain plucked the pad from her hands. “You’ll do.”
Pax half chuffed, half winced in chagrin. He clearly didn’t want her along for the ride. "You must be a Lotus child. What are you mixed with?"
Rannn nodded to Pax as he headed from the hangar into a thin hallway. "She has to be. She made it to the fourth checkpoint. You can’t even make it that far."
It was getting old listening to these jerks talk about her right in front of her like she wasn’t there. She wasn't a Lotus child. A Lotus child was the result of one of the many clients that a female took while working in the lay-houses. Her father, whoever he was, was Terran. Or at least Sasha assumed he was because her mother had been pregnant with her before she arrived on Lotus Nexis. But Sasha wasn’t going to tell them that.
She’d made it. She was really leaving this planet.
Without her mother. Without Jandy.
"Take her to the bridge while I go get Ansel," Captain Rannn said.
Pax looked back at her with something that she thought might be respect, but she wasn’t going to bank on it. Slapping her on the shoulder, he said, "Come on, hellcat, it's time to get off this planet."
Chapter Three
The Crew
The metal ship was illuminated by runway lights on the top and bottom. As she followed Pax, Sasha noticed that the hallway to the bridge was only wide enough to fit him shoulder-to-shoulder with an inch or two of space on each side. Once inside, she looked around, noticing the pilot and co-pilot seats. She was pleased to see that no more than four people could fit in the space.
Sitting in the pilot chair, she gazed over the controls. The pulsars, engine modules, and indicators were quickly identifiable. Stability controls and engine sensors were on opposite sides of the board. To fly, you had to keep both the stability control and engine sensors in sight. Only an idiot would design it so that you had to keep looking back and forth for take-off and landing.
Where the hell is the starter button? It should be more intuitive than this.
"Are you waiting for the keys?" Pax asked playfully.
Kind of, she thought, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that she was a bit out of her depth. "I'm a professional, so I'm familiarizing myself with the controls." Ah. Found the little bugger. The starter button was behind the steering controls.
Asinine.
"I need to know where we're headed before I take off."
"Pegna."
"Where?"
"Galrey system, there is an outpost station there called Pegna. I don't know the directions personally, but I assume you do."
She had no idea, and probably should, but she decided to behave as if his expectations were way out of line. "Do I look like a star chart? No. I need a flight plan, and this wonderful piece of machinery is looking for actual barring and mark numbers to navigate a flight route." His silence made her wonder if that had been the wrong thing to say. "Who was the pilot before me?"
Captain Rannn stepped into the bridge, saw the prompt on the screen, and moved Pax out of the way as he stood by the co-pilot seat. He entered a series of numbers into the computer. "This is why Federation pilots are more useful than non-Federation pilots. They at least know where basic galaxy systems are located." He finished the numerical sequence and pushed the engine start button. "All right, Sasha, let's see if you're really the pilot who can fly anything."
Grabbing the controls, she pulled on the power to get the engines ready to take off.
"The engines don't need warming up. They're allonic," Rannn said while rubbing his face in exasperation.
Of course, they are…
Sasha move
d the power and stabilizers forward, not giving Pax a warning that they were taking off. If he didn't want to find himself a seat, that was his fault. The transporter's engines rumbled as the transporter rattled. The electronic sensor showed the altitude numbers increasing while the oxygen percentage decreased. The ship began thrumming, and something yellow blinked near the co-pilot seat, but Captain Rannn had deactivated the alert before she could read it.
“Faulty system, remember? No auto pilot. Focus on the heat exposure, we need to break free of gravity without overpowering the engines and burning our cargo hold.”
She had never heard of a cargo hold catching fire, but then again, she’d never flown an actual ship before. “Roger.”
The ship began to shake violently. She wasn’t sure if it was normal for the vessel to vibrate that much. She wanted to ask but couldn’t bring the words forward.
She pushed the thrusters another half inch, and the craft settled into a hum as it darted out of the clouds and into the stratosphere. The wind sensor warned of strong gusts headed their way, and she soon felt them as she navigated with the controls. She tilted the nose of the transporter against the air current and climbed another twenty miles. The blue sky got darker the higher she ascended.
She passed the thirty-mile mark and entered the mesosphere. The stars were getting brighter, and to Sasha’s amazement, there seemed to be more of them. There were so many white, twinkling spots, she almost forgot to pay attention to where she was going. A red alarm sounded, warning her of a nearby spaceship. She quickly altered her course and slowed her speed.
With a slight flick of her wrist, she veered to the left. The ship didn’t move as quickly as the hopper. She held her breath as the other ship passed over their nose. Afraid that the captain would think she didn’t know what she was doing, she proceeded out of the planet’s atmosphere.
The weightlessness was the first thing she noticed. The second was the fact that her stomach didn’t care for it.
Captain Rannn touched the front screen and manually enforced the ecosystem’s synthetic gravity. “Like I said, the system is offline.” But the way he said it made it sound like she should have known how to engage the system. She took in the comment, realizing that she was being held to a whole different standard. One where she was responsible for everything the pilot should know and do—even if she didn’t have the knowledge.
