by L. M. Brown
Farron’s blush intensified. “I don’t have the credits for the fare home. That’s why I was at the card table, to try to win enough.”
“Didn’t you buy a two-way ticket?”
“No. My friends brought me here and then left me.”
Trix laughed. “That’s some friends you have there. What did you do to upset them?”
“Nothing, it’s, um, you might call it a tradition.”
Trix waved Farron over to a quiet table and they sat down together. It was only when he took his seat that he realised Delta had been trailing them as well. Thankfully, he seemed to have lost Brak somewhere along the way. Trix hoped he wasn’t still hanging around Val’s card table. It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle him, but he would drive away any new players, reducing her tips.
“What sort of tradition?” Delta asked.
Farron didn’t appear surprised to see Delta there, so Trix stayed quiet and waited to see what the avian had to say.
“When one of my clan comes of age, they’re taken off-world by their older nest mates and friends. They’re left with a single credit to find their way home with, and their access to the clan funds is blocked.”
Delta gestured to Farron’s credit pouch. “You seem to have done quite well for yourself.”
“I was until I started playing the tables,” Farron muttered. “I had better luck on the games of skill, but the returns weren’t enough. When I realised time was running out, I tried cards, but lost much of what I’d already made.”
“You’re on a deadline?” Trix questioned.
Farron nodded. “If I don’t raise the funds for my fare within the next three days, I won’t make it back in time.”
“And you were going to waste what you had left on a whore?” Trix shook his head.
“It sounds foolish when you say it like that.”
“That’s because it is foolish,” Delta said. “Do you have to raise the credits to get home, or can you work your way back?”
“As long as I get back, I can use any method I like. Why?”
“Well, why not sign on as a crew member on one of the crafts passing through?” Delta waved at the customers around them. “Many craft that stop here lose members of their crew to the Pleasure Station. If you go hang out at the docks, you’ll find someone looking for a replacement.”
Farron chewed his lip. “I never thought of that.” A bright smile spread across his face. “If I did, I could use my credits to pay for Trix’s services.”
“Save your credits,” Delta said. “I intend to make my own deal with Trix here.”
“Excuse me?” Trix frowned at Delta. He was starting to like the canine, but for him to just push aside Farron didn’t sit right with him. “Who says I want to make a deal with you?”
Delta grinned. “I know a hungry feline when I see one. So, how much for the three of us to enjoy some quality time together?”
“The three of us?” Farron echoed Trix’s thought before he even found the words.
“Why not?” Delta asked. “I have nowhere to be, and at least in a private room there’s no chance of Brak poking his nose in.”
Trix sat back in his seat as he studied the canine. He wasn’t the first canine to hire him for the night, but those who were part wolf were known for being rough, something Trix had learned the hard way. If he was going to make a deal with Delta, he wanted to know what he was getting into before he took him back to his room. “What do you have in mind for the night?”
Delta stared at him for nearly a full minute. “Well, you sucking our cocks is obviously a given, you have to feed, after all.”
Trix licked his lips at the thought of taking cream from both of his companions. He couldn’t remember the last time he had indulged so much.
“I see you like the idea,” Delta continued. “I also want to fuck you.”
“How?” Trix replied, his heart racing in anticipation.
“I think you know how.”
Trix sucked in a sharp breath, not sure he had heard him correctly.
Delta leaned across the table. “I want to show you that not all males who are attracted to our own gender are put off by the body of a dual-gendered feline.”
Trix sighed. “I already know that. While there are many who are repulsed by what I am, there are also those who consider it a challenge to find and fuck one of us mutants. Is that what I am to you?”
Delta shook his head and appeared quite offended at the suggestion. “No, of course not. I’m not a bigot like Brak. I know what you are and I want to give you pleasure in as many ways as I can. So, how about it? Will you let me fuck you?”
“I don’t think Trix wants that,” Farron said, and Trix realised something must have shown on his face.
Delta gave him a sharp look.
“I charge a lot more for that,” Trix replied. “There’s a high risk of pregnancy, and the cost of the herbs to prevent the same is prohibitive. Or they certainly are around here, where they’re constantly in demand.”
“How much more?” Delta asked.
“Five thousand credits a fuck,” Trix replied. He didn’t bother to tell them that no one had ever paid his price. Which was his sole intention when he’d set it so high.
Farron gave a small squawk of surprise, but Delta just stared at him some more.
“Fucking my arse is cheaper,” Trix said. “Five hundred for the first fuck of the session, and another hundred for each additional fuck. My maximum is three.”
“Per session or per customer?”
“Per session.”
“So I could pay five hundred to fuck you, then Farron pays a hundred for the second round?”
Trix nodded. “Yes.”
“You do know that most whores would charge us five hundred credits each?”
“They can charge what they like, just as I do. Don’t forget the station will need their fee as well, on top of mine.”
“What do you say, Farron?” Delta asked.
Farrow squawked again. “I don’t have a hundred credits.”
“I didn’t ask how many credits you had. I asked if you wanted to fuck our friend here.”
“Um…”
“It’s not a difficult question,” Delta said. “He’s a whore and if he can’t find someone to pay him for the pleasure of his company, he’ll starve. Do you want in?”
Farron’s gaze flickered between Delta and Trix, his partially webbed fingers tapping on the table.
Trix laughed and shook his head. “Don’t be so nervous. You can say yes, you know. I won’t be insulted or anything. Like Delta said, I’m a whore. Besides, I like sex, just as much as the rest of you.”
Farron flushed bright red again and it was Trix’s turn to gape. Surely that didn’t mean what he thought it did? He glanced at Delta, wondering if he had caught the same vibe from the avian. From the small frown of contemplation, he thought he might have. He didn’t say anything though, and neither did Trix. He wasn’t sure of Delta’s motives, but for his own part, he didn’t wish to embarrass Farron or scare him off.
“So, are you in?” Delta asked.
Farron nodded.
Delta grinned and placed a bulging credit bag on the table. “Six thousand credits should cover your fees and the station’s, right?”
Trix wondered if maybe he had hallucinated or misheard him. “Excuse me?”
Delta pushed the credits towards him. “Six thousand.”
“But…”
“But what?”
Trix drew in a deep breath. “No one would ever pay five thousand credits just to fuck a feline.”
Delta smiled. “Does that mean I’d be your first?”
Trix cursed under his breath when he realised what he had revealed. Beside him, Farron seemed to relax, reaffirming Trix’s guess that the avian might be untouched.
The bag of credits in front of him was more than he usually made in a cycle. Brak might be rude and obnoxious, but he was right about Trix. More often than not he was happy e
nough to just suck the cream he needed from his customer’s cock and let them pay the station their fee. Sure, there were those who wanted to fuck as well, but they tended to hire felines with far more experience than him. He realised it must have been almost a cycle since he was last fucked. Damn, he was going to feel it in the morning.
“Six thousand credits is a lot to spend on a whore,” Trix pointed out. “There are cheaper felines here on the station.”
“I’m sure there are,” Delta agreed. “But I’d rather make a deal with you.”
“Why?” Trix couldn’t understand why Delta would pay such a ridiculous amount to fuck him. His grey and black stripes marked him as a common feline and nothing special. His pointed ears were a little uneven, and one of them had a tear in it from a fight with another youngster back on Furyne. He was too thin and his tail was crooked.
“Maybe I want to fuck a pussy?” Delta suggested.
Trix hissed and glared across the table.
“What?” Delta appeared confused.
“I’m not a pussy,” Trix snapped. “To call me that is an insult. On Furyne it’s a criminal offence.”
Delta appeared as uncomfortable as Farron had a few minutes before. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call you that. I was referring to your… er…”
“Oh, yes, I suppose that is one name for it,” Trix said. “But you might want to pick another one to use if you don’t want to risk upsetting those like me.”
“I’ll make sure I don’t use it again. So, do we have a deal, or shall I go see if Brak wants some company?”
“If you’re trying to make me jealous, it won’t work. I couldn’t care less what you do, or who you do it with.”
Delta sighed and glanced at Farron. “I’m sorry, chick, but it looks like I’m not going to be making us a deal tonight.”
“I’m not a chick,” Farron replied with a scowl of annoyance.
Trix chuckled at the suddenly feisty avian. “Fine, six thousand credits and the two of you can fuck me any way you like.”
Delta grinned. Farron blushed.
And Trix wondered just precisely when his mouth had disengaged from his brain.
Chapter Two
As a voluntary whore on the Pleasure Station, Trix had his own room in the residential quarters of the core.
The space station was comprised of several sets of rings spanning out from a central hub. The rings were devoted to gambling tables, guest quarters, theatres, music venues, dance floors, and other types of fun activities. The hub, known as the core, was devoted entirely to the pleasures of the flesh.
The outer core contained several reception areas, where customers who wanted to fuck and go checked in. The reception was also where those such as Trix registered their deals and ensured that the station’s owners received their cut. Some of the whores tried to make deals and execute them away from the core, but anyone who got caught selling sexual favours without giving the owners their cut, was immediately dismissed. There were no second chances on the Pleasure Station.
Trix didn’t mind paying the fees. He’d be happy to pay even more for the security of having a place to live and a regular supply of cream.
“Hi Purdi,” Trix greeted the receptionist, feline like himself, though she had a mate to keep her fed, and didn’t need to sell herself for cream. “Can you check us in?”
“Of course.” Purdi waved her hand over her holo-projector and called up Trix’s profile. “Your room or one of the quickies?”
“My room.” There was an additional fee, paid by Trix, for using one of the quickies—rooms for customers who came to the reception and hired a whore there. Trix tried to remember if he had cleaned up before he had gone on the prowl.
Purdi logged the information and smiled at Trix. “So, two customers at once? Aren’t you getting adventurous?”
“You have no idea.”
“So, that’s one hundred credits, fifty each.” Purdi added Farron to the system first. “Payment in advance. No refunds.”
Trix placed the credit sack on the counter. “You can take it out of this.”
Purdi opened the sack, her eyes widening when she saw the contents. “Trix, what is this?”
“My fee,” Trix replied.
“But there must be over five thousands credits here!”
“There’s six thousand,” Delta said.
Purdi whistled through her teeth and gave Trix a knowing grin. “So, I guess someone finally called your bluff, huh?”
“Apparently, you were right,” Trix replied.
“I always am,” Purdi teased.
“Right about what?” Farron asked.
Trix chuckled. “Purdi here has always said someone would pay five thousand sooner or later, and if I wanted to keep my female virginity I should set my price at ten thousand.”
Delta leaned in so only Trix could hear him. “Still too low.”
Trix shivered. Delta was either very rich or very stupid. Possibly both.
Purdi counted out the station fees and waved Trix and his companions through to the back.
“This way.” Trix led Delta and Farron down a curved corridor with doors set an equal distance apart. Some of them were open, revealing sparsely decorated rooms with large beds and couches. The closed doors indicated an occupied room, though they were all completely soundproofed.
“They don’t look very luxurious,” Farron commented as he glanced in one of the rooms.
“There are others, with more elaborate decorations,” Delta replied. “This is the cheaper area.”
“Oh. Have you been here before then?”
“Yes.”
“A lot?”
Delta barked out a laugh. “Not that often, but enough to be familiar with the layout of the core. The residents’ rooms are nearer the centre, with the cells for those who are here against their wishes right in the middle.”
“You mean the slave whores?” Farron whispered, glancing over his shoulder as though someone might be listening to him.
“That’s right,” Trix said. “Residents like myself stay out of the cells in the middle.”
“Why do they need to have slaves anyway?” Farron asked.
Trix shrugged. “Some of them are exotic species who customers pay the station very high fees to fuck. The owners go to a lot of expense to acquire them. Humans are a fairly recent addition, though the first ones the owners purchased escaped. Valerie is the only one here at the moment, though she nearly put out the eye of the last customer who paid for her services. That’s why she now works the card tables. Back on her home planet she was a trained fighter.”
“Then Valerie is a slave?”
“Yes.”
“I’m surprised they let her wander around the outer areas,” Delta commented. “She could just hop on a craft and be gone in a flash.”
Trix laughed. “She got as far as the docks once. Then she realised she had no idea where her people are.”
“Why not just go back to her planet?”
“She comes from a galaxy very far away. They were on their way to find a new home planet when they accidentally crossed into Antrill territory. The crew of her ship were captured and sold to whoever wanted them. Obviously the insectoids that own the station here were amongst the first to get invitations to the auctions.”
Trix arrived at the security door that led to the residents’ rooms and stared into the eye scanner. Once his identity was confirmed the door opened, and he waved his customers through.
“I thought felines owned the station,” Farron queried.
“No,” Trix replied. “That’s a common misconception. We’re in feline territory, but that’s because the owners knew they’d get plenty of voluntary workers from Furyne.”
“And it doesn’t bother you that you’re working for a company that owns slaves?” Farron pressed.
Trix shook his head. “I wish I could tell you that it does, but the truth is, I like living here. I didn’t think I would at first, but it isn’t so bad on
ce you get used to it. The fees the station gets for the exotic species are what keeps this place running. If they stopped keeping slaves, this place would soon shut down and I’d be one of hundreds of homeless, starving felines.”
“You’d really starve?”
“Yes, I would. There’s a growing number of planets outlawing prostitution, and for felines without a mate, it’s the only way we can find someone to feed us.”
“Trix is right,” Delta said. “Lupalia hasn’t banned it yet, but they’ve been talking about it for the last few cycles. It’s only a matter of time.”
Trix wasn’t surprised. The canines had always looked down on the felines, and many were openly repulsed by the feline diet. “Maybe it’s selfish of me,” Trix said as he opened his door and breathed a sigh of relief that the place wasn’t too untidy, “but before I came here I was going weeks between feeds.”
“But they own slaves,” Farron said.
Delta stepped into Trix’s room and Farron followed, closing the door after him. “Well, as arousing as this conversation is, I would rather not spend the entire night debating the moral dilemma of hiring a whore who works for a company that also owns slaves.”
Trix gestured for his companions to sit down and took a seat himself. “Does it really bother you, Farron?” he asked.
Farron nodded. “I’m sorry, but it does. I can’t pretend that it doesn’t. When you ignore something as serious as this, you’re as good as saying you approve of it. Everyone has a moral obligation to stand up for what’s right and help change the things that aren’t.”
Trix hung his head as Farron gave his impassioned speech. For the first time in his life he felt ashamed of himself. Not for selling his body—that was just survival—but for turning a blind eye to the enslavement of others.
“That’s enough,” Delta said in a quiet yet firm tone.
“But—”
“No.” Delta cut off whatever Farron intended to say. “When did you last eat?”
“A couple of hours ago,” Farron replied. “If you don’t count the snack seeds on the tables.”
Delta nodded. “The slaves here are fed three times a day, morning, midday and evening. Trix, when did you last feed?”
