by Tammy Walsh
It wasn’t the key.
It was candy wrapped in a rainbow-colored wrapper.
I hadn’t had sugar for weeks and was damned if I was going to give it up. I’d need the energy for the next stage of my plans. I unwrapped it and placed it in my mouth.
Stinky whined and stamped his foot. He licked his lips and tried to get closer.
“Forget it, asshole,” I said. “You never share your food.”
The creature always ate better than me.
I reached back in Master’s pocket and felt something with a jagged, but not sharp, edge.
It had to be the key.
I hooked my finger around the little pull ring and tugged it free.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
I slipped the key in the lock. It clicked open and the restraint fell to the floor with a thud. I massaged the blood into my ankle and luxuriated in the freedom of movement.
That was better.
Much better.
Master sat up and rubbed at the bump on his forehead. He hissed through his teeth and checked his palm for blood.
I was so terrified, I froze.
He groaned under his breath, still suffering the effects of the alcohol.
I needed to act. Fast.
His eyes fell on me and bulged in memory of what I’d done to him.
I acted on instinct again. It worked well last time.
My hand snapped the restraint around his ankle and the lock clicked into place. I used the same forward motion to fall off the bed and onto the floor.
I scrambled forward and tucked my legs under myself.
After three weeks in this shithole, I knew exactly how far the chain let me move.
And…
I crossed it!
I was out of reach!
I grinned with satisfaction. Let’s see how you like being chained up, asshole—
His hand latched around my ankle.
No! He can’t reach me here! He can’t—!
But he was much taller than me. It gave him more reach.
“No!” I screamed.
I kicked and flailed and twisted to free myself from his grip but it wouldn’t loosen.
I slammed my free foot down, aiming vaguely at him.
He grunted, hard.
I peered down between my legs. He frowned at me in utter rage, a trickle of blood running out of his nose.
But he still had me gripped firmly.
I thrust my heel at him again and again.
His grip loosened but wouldn’t let go.
“No!” I yelled. “Let go! Let go! Let go!”
“Give me the key!” he shouted back. “Give it to me or I swear I’ll snap your leg clean off!”
And he could do it too. Titans were wicked strong. All it would take was a sharp twist of his arm and I’d be disfigured for the rest of my life.
I held out my hand. The key sat in my palm.
He extended his other hand toward it.
If he got hold of it, if he freed himself…
I would be dead. Or worse. He would follow through on his earlier threat to use me as a sex slave.
I couldn’t let him have the key.
But I couldn’t let him break my leg either.
“Stinky!” I yelled. “Candy!”
I jammed the key in the candy wrapper and tossed it under Master’s chin.
Stinky leaped for it and smashed into Master, knocking his grip from around my ankle loose. Stinky scooped the candy up and swallowed it happily.
I kicked along the floor and into the distant corner.
Master yanked on the chain and it bit into his skin. Then he braced his feet on the wall and pulled against the pipe. His muscles, veins, and tendons stood out on his arms and neck. They looked set to snap and burst through his skin. The wall groaned but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get it free.
He let go but did not relax.
He seized Stinky by the neck and shoulders, and for a brief moment, I thought he was going to rip the poor creature’s head off.
Stinky whined pitifully inside his master’s grip.
My heart caught in my throat. For all the dislike the Titan had for me, I always felt certain he would never harm Stinky.
Would he?
Had I misjudged his affections for his pet?
It was one thing to love something when you had nothing to lose, but what happened when your freedom was on the line?
Master stared at Stinky with his downward-facing eyes. His resolve faltered and he relaxed, brushing Stinky’s hairless skin.
“You’re sticking with me, my friend,” he said. “For the next twelve hours, we will be like conjoined twins.”
Stinky licked Master’s face with joy.
Twelve hours? Why was that significant?
And then I realized.
It took that long for Stinky’s digestive system to pass the key. Then Master could use it to free himself.
My ploy with Stinky hadn’t saved my life. It’d only prolonged it.
Master would chase me. There was no doubt in my mind about that.
“You’d better kill me,” Master said. “Or you’ll never live your life in peace. I’ll find you. I swear to the Creator himself, I’ll find you and make you pay.”
The smart thing to do was carry out his suggestion. To kill him and leave him there to rot. Someone would eventually find his body. They’d find evidence that I’d been in the shack too, that I’d been the one to kill him. Would there be enough evidence to prove I’d only done it to protect myself?
I didn’t know this planet or this Titan species. The only example I had to draw from had chained me up and used me as a slave. It didn’t inspire much confidence that they would be valiant upholders of the law.
I had to be honest with myself. I was an elementary school teacher. I just didn’t have it in me to kill a man—or a Titan—even the evil one I was staring at right now.
I got to my feet and dusted off my dress.
“The galaxy is a big place,” I said. “And you’re not even half a man.”
He ground his teeth and growled.
“You’ll never get anywhere without me!” he said. “I am your master!”
“You are a loser,” I said. “And I don’t associate with such people.”
I waved a finger at him.
“If you come after me, I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never regret,” I said. “And I know about lessons. I’m a teacher!”
The threat sounded weak even to my ears.
I moved to the beaten-up wardrobe and chest of drawers. I didn’t know if the wood was badly warped or it’d been assembled from random parts. Neither would have surprised me.
I reached inside the wardrobe and sifted through the scraps of cloth he called clothes until I came across what I was looking for. I’d only ever seen him look in this wardrobe for one thing—the tin that rattled at the back.
“What are you doing?” he said, working his way up onto his knees. “Get away from there! It’s mine!”
He took it out every day. Sometimes to put money inside, more often to take some out. I reached in and removed the small bag of credits. I tucked it in my pocket and did the same with the other items. If they were in that tin box, they must have some value.
“For services rendered,” I said.
“You’re a thief!” he spat.
“And you’re a slaver,” I said. “I guess none of us are perfect.”
I moved for the door and stopped in the doorway. The rusted floating truck sat outside the shack. Maybe I could figure out how to drive it. It would save me a lot of travel time.
But the keys were in Master’s pocket. He was never going to hand them to me. Could I take them with another strike to his head? I didn’t trust myself not to mess it up. It took a lot for me to escape. I didn’t want to accidentally end up handing myself over now.
I headed outside. The sun was just beginning to set on the arid landscape. It was fairly cool.
A breeze tickled the wound around my ankle but I felt strong—stronger than I’d been in a long time.
On the far horizon, bright light bloomed and replaced the dying sunlight. The lights of civilization and the next stage on my journey.
The red dust felt hot beneath the soles of my feet. I jogged down across the expanse of the desert in the direction of that glowing light, reveling in the sensation of being out in the wide-open space, knowing every step took me closer to freedom and my true home.
Earth.
It took three hours of continuous jogging to reach the city’s outskirts. It was the dead of night and very quiet.
A couple of taxis pulled over and asked if I wanted a ride. I did but decided to save as much the money as possible. I asked for directions to the spaceport and they were kind enough to point it out. I saw the ships coming in and taking off from miles away.
Assuming it took twelve hours for Stinky to complete a cycle and pass the food, the wrapper and the enclosed key shouldn’t be through his system for another nine hours or so. Even if it went through unusually fast, that still left me with six or seven hours.
More than enough for me to get as far from this planet as possible.
But there were other options too.
What if Stinky was sick and threw up the wrapper immediately after I left? Or it passed through his system faster like diarrhea? Did that even exist on this planet? I guessed so. These things were still biological creatures. There was no reason why they should be spared the same embarrassment we humans had to put up with.
Or maybe Master had changed his mind about his affections toward the poor pet and decided to tear defenseless old Stinky apart…
I shook my head. I was worrying about nothing. Best to concentrate on getting out of there as fast as possible.
And I really should stop thinking of him as “Master.” I wasn’t Igor. I was free now. He would never hold dominion over me ever again.
I hoped.
His new name would be… Asshole. Yes, that was a pretty good fit. He was an asshole and so his name would now forever be Asshole.
Asshole. Asshole. Asshole.
The spaceport was packed with fellow travelers. There were dozens of different species. Some had green skin and had the appearance of lizards, others were yellow and glowed with the brightness of a midday sun and had to wear thick jackets to conceal their skin. Some were tiny and I almost trampled them underfoot, while others were even larger than Titans and I was the one who was almost trampled. But the dominant species were the Titans. They were the workers and the vast majority of travelers. It had to be a Titan moon or planet.
I considered taking one of the workers aside to tell them how I came to end up in this place. Who knows, they might be able to help me. But I knew nothing about them. It was better for me to focus on getting the hell out of dodge than take the risk of putting myself in even more trouble.
I dug my hands in my pockets, holding on tight to that little bag of credits, and took my place in the line to buy a ticket. Some creatures were using fancy machines but they needed payment other than the physical credits I had.
“Next!” a nasal voice said.
I approached the kiosk. The counter was built for Titans, not for short asses like me. I had to go up on tiptoe to see inside.
“Destination?” the bored worker said.
“Earth,” I said.
“Earth?” the worker said. “That’s an unusual one.”
She turned to her computer terminal and tapped it in. It took a moment for the computer to bring up the information.
The worker squinted at her screen and brushed at it with her finger. She looked surprised when it didn’t come off. She thought Earth was a piece of lint.
“Huh,” she said. “Would you look at that. I never knew there was a solar system all the way out there. What’s it like? I might go there on my next holiday.”
“It’s… okay,” I said. “We have some nice beaches.”
“Mm-hm. Now that’s what I like to hear. How many tickets do you want, sugar?”
I was glad she was kind. It’d been a while since I saw a friendly face. Maybe it would be okay for me to share my story with her after all…
I stamped on that desire to ask for help. It always got me in trouble on Earth so why wouldn’t it wind up doing the same thing here?
“Just one, please,” I said.
“Pod class?” the worker said.
Pod?
“What’s pod class?” I said.
The worker looked me over.
“If you need to ask, then you will definitely travel by pod,” she said. “It’s a little box they put you in so you sleep the whole way. It’s the only way poor people get to travel any further than their solar system. Pods take up less space and require less energy and food. Hence the lower price.”
Pod.
I could still remember the last pod I’d been in. Well, to say I could remember it wasn’t exactly right. I didn’t remember being put inside it. I only remembered waking up from it. That was bad enough.
I didn’t like the idea of getting into another one. Who knows where I might end up. At least if I was awake during the journey, I could fight or run or hide. When you were asleep in a pod, all you could do was hope they didn’t accidentally jettison you off into space.
“How much for a different class?” I said.
“A lot,” the worker said. “And between you and me, it’s not really worth the price. All you ever get to see is a bunch of walls and endless darkness. You might as well be standing in an empty room with the lights switched off.”
“I’d like to know anyway,” I said.
“Second class is five thousand credits,” the worker said.
I had no idea how much that was.
I reached into my pocket and withdrew the little bag of coins. I added the other random items I’d swiped too. There was a nice necklace among the crap. I pushed it all forward.
The worker peered at my meager collection.
“Well, honey, I don’t think you need to worry about any class better than pod,” she said. “You haven’t even got enough for that.”
“I don’t?” I said.
“Nowhere near.”
“What about this necklace? And this… bracelet thing? It has to be worth something?”
The worker sighed and pawed through the items.
“We’re not supposed to accept pawned items as payment,” she said, casting furtive glances at the other windows. “We can get into a lot of trouble.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” I said. “Please. I need to get out of here.”
I sensed she was a good person, even if she was a different species. I could tell her the truth… or at least a version of it…
I leaned forward.
She joined me.
“I just ran away from home,” I said. “My boyfriend… He… He hits me. He always did it in places so no one can see the bruises.”
I lifted my shirt so she could see the purple and blue marks there.
“Oh, baby,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“He was going to… do something else to me,” I said. “Something he never did before. I finally had enough and hit him. If he catches me, I know he’ll do worse to me next time.”
The worker pressed a holographic button.
“I’m going to call the police,” she said. “Get somebody to crack down on his ass.”
“No!” I said, jumping up and reaching across the counter. “Please. I just want to get away from him. I never want to see him again. I want to begin somewhere else, somewhere new.”
The worker hesitated a moment, then ended her call.
“All right,” she said. “But only because my sister was in a similar situation once. Heaven knows I never understood why she didn’t want to beat his ass black and blue for what he did to her.”
“Thank you,” I said.
She reached into her bag and came out with her purse. She upended
it and spilled the credits across the counter.
“I don’t have a lot,” she said, “but what I do have is yours.”
“Is it enough to get me to Earth?” I said.
“No.”
My hopes deflated.
“But with a little jiggery-pokery with my terminal, I can get you halfway,” she said.
It was the best offer I was going to get. I would have to figure out how to get the rest of the way later.
“You just wait a second, child,” the worker said. “Let me work my magic and get you as far from here as I can.”
She cracked her knuckles and leaned over her terminal.
For the first time since I arrived on this terrible planet, I felt like I had a friend.
She booked me on a flight to a planet called Arcturon Prime, a Titan colony slap bang between Rang (the planet I was now on) and Earth. A pod class ticket to Earth cost two thousand credits. If it was in the middle, it meant it would cost about a thousand credits for me to travel the rest of the way.
I figured there was no reason why I couldn’t save up the money I needed. It wasn’t like I was work-shy.
After booking my flight, the worker ran an eye over my clothes, shook her head, and tutted.
“Ain’t no way nobody is going to give you a job dressed like that,” she said. “Come on. We have some time to kill.”
She took me to lost and found. Together we sorted through the items until we found things that fit me. We piled it all in a case decorated with the skin of a creature that had at least a dozen eyes when it was living. She said the creature was a “S’mauggai.”
“Nothing’s less ugly than a S’mauggai!” she said as if quoting a commercial.
I thought my pod would be located in the ship’s bowels but I was pleasantly surprised. It was buried among thousands of other pods. Everyone else appeared to know what they were doing, so I just followed them.
They stripped down to their underwear and climbed inside their pods. I felt a bit uncomfortable with so many strangers around. I folded my clothes and put them in a small box beside my pod and locked it. I wore the key around my wrist and climbed in the pod.
The lid drew over and thumped into place. My breathing was loud and filled my ears.
That was when I was most nervous. I was terrified Asshole might show up and demand I be removed from my pod, that he was my rightful owner. Maybe slavery was okay with Titans. Then he would drag me back to that shack and have his vicious way with me.
