by Tracy Lauren
“That’s not what I meant! I’m going to feel uncomfortable. It’s just not my style,” I explain.
“Hmm.” He leans against the door frame, pushing his way into my personal space while looking very thoughtful. “You mean it is not what a librarian would wear?”
I look at the clothes balled up in my fist and then back at Dax. That’s…well, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. I guess I will wear it after all. “Did you just play me? That’s not fair!” I gasp, before I shut the door angrily on him. But I am resolved to step outside my comfort zone, so I pull the skirt on.
“We do not play fair,” he reminds me from the other side of the door.
Yeah, no kidding, I think to myself as I hold the bodice up. It’s covered in straps and laces. I realize I don’t know what’s what. “Um, Dax…I really don’t think I can get this thing on…”
Suddenly the door opens. Startled, I hurry to cover my naked breasts with the bodice. “Dax! What the hell!”
“Turn around, I will help you,” he says casually.
“No! You’ll be able to see me in the mirror!” I shriek.
“Are all librarians this modest?” he challenges me with a smug look on his face.
“Nice try, but that trick only works once. Turn around and I’ll put it on, then you can help me with the straps and stuff.”
“Fine, but you are holding it upside down.”
“Oh. Thanks,” I say, and quickly wriggle into it while watching to make sure Dax doesn’t try to sneak a peek. “Okay. I’m done,” I tell him.
When he turns to face me, I realize I’m hoping to see his eyes light up with appreciation, but instead he looks at me like I’m a problem waiting to be solved. Grabbing some of the straps, he pulls them around and stands behind me. We both face the mirror, and the visual I get stuns me.
The difference between the two of us is such a stark contrast. Considering appearances alone, he is like a monster behind me. His size is mammoth in proportion to my petite human frame. My head doesn’t quite reach his shoulders, his horns arch nearly all the way to the ceiling, and I can hear his tail whipping the bathroom door as he works. All the while he is being ever careful that his sharp claws don’t snag the delicate fabric of the top. Yes, he certainly looks like a monster compared to little old me.
But when I consider what is inside each of us… Well, somehow, I feel like I’m the monster. How can one person be so brave and strong and happy all the time? And another person be so sad, boring, and cowardly?
“Are you sure this isn’t underwear?” I question as I appraise the top.
“What is underwear?”
“You know, the stuff you wear under your clothes.”
“You wear things under your clothes?” he asks, sounding a little confused.
“You don’t?”
He wiggles his eyebrows at me in the mirror. “Would you like to check?”
“Oh my god. Never mind,” I say, blushing and trying not to think of what lies just beneath that flimsy little piece of fabric he wears around his waist. I’m shaken from my thoughts when he pulls the straps tighter and the bodice hugs my curves tightly, much more tightly than I’m used to. When I focus on my reflection I’m pleasantly surprised. I actually look like a Vivian. There’s certainly no prude looking back at me in the mirror today. Dax laces the top tighter, and I gasp in surprise as he ties it off like that.
“Okay, now the sleeves,” he says, fiddling with some ribbons and braided strands that lie across my shoulders.
“This is what passes for sleeves in outer space, huh?”
He finishes his arrangements and his hands slide down to rest on my hips. For a split second I allow myself to feel pretty and hopeful. He studies me in the mirror. “It is missing something,” he points out, and all of a sudden, I feel lacking again. Seemingly, he decides the problem is my hair and turns me around to face him.
Working to undo my rows of braids, he unwinds them all except for a couple tight ones over my left ear. With his eyes on my hair, it gives me a chance to study him up close. His lips are curled up into a smile. He’s always smiling. Probably smiles in his sleep, I think to myself. His smile deepens, I look up at his eyes and see he is watching me too now.
“Oh, are you done?”
“Turn and see,” he instructs me. I face the mirror and he expertly tousles my hair. The braids have made it wavy and given it more body than it usually has. It looks wild and fun. It, too, looks very Vivian. But when I look farther down and see my breasts spilling out of my bodice and notice the gap between the end of my shirt and beginning of my skirt, leaving my stomach exposed, my confidence wavers—regardless of how much I like the outfit. The long skirt is…well, it’s something a goddess would wear, but no matter what Dax keeps calling me, I’m no goddess.
“I really don’t think I can do this,” I admit.
“One last piece,” he says, leaving the bathroom to rifle through a thin storage closet. He pulls out a big black blanket and shakes it open. “It will be big on you, but it will serve its purpose.”
“What is it?” I wrinkle my nose at the thing.
“A cloak,” he answers and swings the thing wide so it wraps around me. He secures it around my shoulders. The cloak is obviously sized for a Dax, so it drags behind me like a regal train. “And the finishing touch,” he says as he pulls the hood down over my head. It’s as if he has put a bag over my head. I can hardly see a thing.
“What do you think?” he asks proudly. I can’t see him, but I imagine him puffing his chest out and placing his hands on his hips, triumphant—while I’m draped in a giant’s blanket.
“It’s…ugh, who am I kidding? It’s perfect.” I wanted to be Vivian, but the safety and anonymity of the cloak makes me feel comfortable. “Seems like a waste to have such a stunning outfit on underneath.”
“A waste?” Dax asks, surprised, pulling me free of the hood and allowing his hands to linger at my shoulders. “How can it be a waste when I know what you have on under there?”
“Very funny,” I reply, becoming tired of the flirty schtick. It’s especially insulting after he basically put a bag over my head. “Anyway, it seems like we’re ready. When do we get to Lock VI?”
“We are there now,” he tells me after a quick glance at the controls. My stomach sinks. “Are you ready?” he asks.
“No.”
“Perfect. Let’s go!” he announces, shoving me into the captain’s seat.
Chapter 19
Dax
“Do you remember the plan?” I ask.
“Yeah, I stay quiet underneath the cloak. You lead me around until we get your ship. Boom, we’re out of here.”
“I am your guard. I will lead you and speak for you. The people here will assume you are a wealthy on-worlder, a diplomat or a princess perhaps. Most will assume your station is above their own and will not address you directly—” I explain.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I just said. I don’t think we need the elaborate backstory.” She frowns.
She seems unhappy. Not frightened like she has been in the past, but troubled somehow. “Are you nervous?”
“No. For all intents and purposes I’m going to be hidden the whole time. It’ll be like I’m not even here,” she says, shrugging my concern away.
“Are you bothered by that?” I cock my head in her direction, but she refuses to meet my gaze.
“We’re docking,” she tells me suddenly, and the ship rattles as the station’s sensors lock onto us and begin pulling us in automatically. “What do I do?” she asks nervously, testing the steering column for control. We rattle harder in response.
“It is fine. Sit back and relax, there is nothing more to do at this point, let the auto take care of it,” I reassure her.
“If we needed to, could we get out of this…tractor beam or whatever it’s called?” she questions. “Like if it were an emergency?”
I raise an eyebrow at her. Such a strange question. Sometimes I ge
t the impression Vivian is always looking for an escape route. “Yes, as a matter of fact, we could. Not without causing some damage, of course, but it is possible.”
I keep my eyes on her and she frowns nervously, wringing her hands. I want to press to get to the bottom of this, but the ship completes docking. It is time to go. I pull the rucksacks with our waning supplies onto my back and help Vivian with her hood.
“How’s that?” I question, and she gives me a lame shrug from beneath the heavy and oversized cloak. “Perfect! Remember, this is nothing like the station in dark space that Kate and Allison visited,” I tell her as I direct her toward the door. I feel her back stiffen at the sound of her friends’ names. “This is a fueling station and market, nothing more.”
“Is there UPC here?”
“Lock stations have their own private security companies. We have nothing to fear,” I tell her as I ruffle the top of her head. I can practically hear her cringe beneath the cloak.
The door to the ship opens and the ramp grinds out.
“Ayo! Dax, effa. It has been a long time!” a familiar voice calls to me as I descend the ramp. I have to jog a few steps back and pull Vivian forward to get her to follow me.
“Talang! My brother! How are you?” I say, clasping my friend’s shoulder.
“The Goddesses bless me, brother. Helvk and I just had our second child. Another daughter!” he laughs heartily, unable to suppress his elation.
“Blessed indeed, send my congratulations to Helvk! It is a joyful time for your family.”
“Joyful, yes…but tiring too,” he says with a swipe to his brow. “Let me guess what you are here for, effa.”
“You will not need many tries,” I respond, and he gives me a knowing look.
“Your timing is good. Dlaage has been talking about auctioning it—say, who is your friend?” Talang asks suddenly, eyeing Vivian.
“Oh, just a quick side job I have taken. Traveling companion to guard the princess here while she is on vacation,” I explain casually, and I feel Vivian land an elbow to my ribs. “Anyway, who did you say was running the impound yard? Dlaage? I do not think I have met him yet.”
“I wish I could say it was going to be a pleasant experience, but Dlaage is a real hard ass, Dax. Good luck with those fines. Hey, maybe your princess can front you the creds Dlaage is going to try to squeeze from you.”
“I will not need luck, nor the creds. I have the Goddesses on my side today, Talang,” I tell my friend, before I start pulling Vivian along. She shuffles forward awkwardly, blind to the station save for perhaps a small circle of metal floor in front of her feet.
Once we are away from the crowds at the docking ports I pull her close to me, pressing my lips against the cloak to whisper into her ear.
“You did not like the princess story?” I ask her.
“Keep it short and sweet, Dax. No one gives a damn who I am. Let’s just get in and get out,” she hisses at me. “Hey, did I hear you say something about an impound lot?”
I pull her into an elevator, and just before the door closes us in, a large Ebunati male stops the door and slips in next to us. We ride in silence for a moment before I catch the Ebunati’s eyes.
“What you got in there?” he asks, motioning toward Vivian.
“My young crewman is very sick. Likely contagious. I picked him up after his vacation on Thaylon—”
“The brothel planet?”
“You know of it! Yes! Well, within a few short days he was riddled with sores. Head to toe, it is disgusting. Repulsive, really. Would you like a look?” I offer, reaching to pull Vivian’s hood back. The Ebunati shakes his head no and conspicuously moves to the far side of the elevator. “We are hoping to get the poor boy a treatment here, heard the med bay was a decent one.”
The Ebunati grunts in response but says nothing more until the door opens on his level. “May the Goddesses be with you,” he says as he leaves the elevator.
“Oh, believe me, they are!” I call after him. “The Goddesses are on my—yeow!” I scream out as the door closes. Vivian’s fingers have found that soft flesh in the underpart of my arm again and she pinches it painfully.
“Stop it, you witch!” I tell her.
“Are we alone?” she whispers. I take the opportunity to press close to her again and she jolts at my touch.
“We are alone, crewman. Do not fear, the med bay is not far from here.”
She shoves me away. “Stop trying to be funny! You’re going to get us into trouble!”
The elevator door opens on our floor and a crowd of people wait to board it. “Excuse me!” I announce loudly as I push Vivian ahead of me through the throngs of people, “I have a diplomat here, urgent business, please let us through!” Vivian lets out an outraged growl, muffled by her cloak, but she does not venture to speak while others are near.
We are not far from the impound lot now. Soon we will have my ship and we can be on our way to our next adventure. All the more reason to make this simple outing as interesting for Vivian as possible. She struggles with her comfort levels, but I know deep inside me that she likes to be tested, to be removed from her comfort zone. I can be quite good at achieving that. That is why we are perfect for one another.
“Here we are now,” I whisper to her.
“Dax, I swear to God, make a spectacle of me one more time and—”
“Greetings! You must be Dlaage!” I call to the male sitting at a desk inside a small office just beyond the walls of the impound lot. Chain link separates us.
“Name,” the male says in a monotone voice, not looking up from his paperwork.
“I am Dax and this is…” I see Vivian's fingers reaching out from under her cloak to pinch me. “This is my traveling companion.”
“Good for you. What is it you want?” the males states, disinterested in both me and my cloaked goddess.
“I am here for Vs26i3,” I tell him, and it finally earns me a glance from the stout, fat little male.
“Did you say Vs26i3?” he asks with a vicious smile. He thumbs through his documents. “Let’s review the charges. Traveling at a rate surpassing the accepted speed variance. Piloting a vehicle in unauthorized areas of the station. Vandalism. Possession of restricted contraband. If you will prepare your cred reader I will tally the fees,” he says excitedly.
“That will not be necessary, Dlaage. I will not be paying the fees.”
“Claiming financial hardship, eh? Well it won’t work. I’ve done my research. Says here you’re employed by the United Planets.”
“I am not claiming financial hardship, Dlaage. I have your money, but I also have something else—” I am cut short when Vivian’s heel comes crashing down on my foot. “Principle,” I grit out. “I had very good reasons for each and every one of those charges. It would be unjust to ask me to pay any fines considering all the good I have done for this station.”
“Vs26i3 has been in impound for four cycles. That means each fine is subject to late fees,” he says, ignoring my words and tallying up my totals on his handheld. I lean forward to look in at his desk behind the chain link. It contains exactly what I was hoping for: an effigy of the goddesses.
“Are you religious, Dlaage?” I ask casually.
“This is Lock VI, what kind of question in that, Clochank?
“Such language for a male who walks the path of the Goddesses,” I tsk at him.
“Everyone knows the Lock Systems were founded by missionaries for the Goddesses. It is common knowledge. As much time as you’ve spent here, you should know this yourself. Well, as much time as your ship has spent here,” he gruffs. “Hah! By now Vs26i3 is born again. Shame the same can’t be said for you, effa. Now let me see here, you owe the Lock Systems a grand total of…89,753 creds for your violations and delinquencies.”
“I will let you in on a little secret, Dlaage,” I say, lowering my voice. “Only because—”
“I will take your cred reader now, unless you wish to place the ship on auction and
try your luck at the bids, but a ship like that? She will go quick. Eighty-nine thousand creds is a deal, if you ask me.”
“Dlaage, Dlaage, my brother. You are not hearing me, I am trying to share some very interest—”
“No, it is you who is not listening. If you have the funds, please hand them over. If not, you are wasting my time. Be advised you have 60 rotations until Vs26i3 goes to mandatory auction.”
“I am a missionary as you are, Dlaage. Is that any way to treat a brother?”
