Chapter Twenty

Zoe

 

I don’t know what I expected when we got to the surface of Giedi Prime, but it was nothing like Gallana. On the Majoran spaceport, there had been, for the most part, a sense of beauty and grace—an interest in aesthetics which was sadly lacking here.

Giedi Prime was a big, dirty, ugly, industrialized planet where the city seemed to stretch on and on forever with tall towers and huge stacks belching smoke into the air.

The sky was completely black.

“Oh—I didn’t know we were getting here in the middle of the night,” I remarked to Sarden as he piloted his small shuttle over the planet’s surface. The two guys were up front, due to their size and I was squeezed into the back, looking out through the windshield-type-screen at the front.

“We’re not—this is the middle of the Giedi Prime day,” he said.

“Pollution here is fuckin’ awful,” Grav growled from my other side. “Just stay in the shuttle and keep the air circulator turned on full blast and we’ll be okay.”

“It’ll be better at Tazaxx’s compound,” Sarden told me. “He’s got his own private atmosphere bubble over the entire property. Probably cost thirty million credits at least.”

“Wow.” I was suitably impressed and kept my eyes peeled, still curiously drinking in all the alien sights around me as we flew. Not that there was much to see—just lots and lots of dark buildings and belching smokestacks. The whole planet looked like the end of the Lorax book after the greedy Onceler gets hold of it and ruins it so the humming fish and swammy-swans and barbaloots have to move out.

My nib-nibs, Rae, Vis, and little Drogon, my favorite, chattered quietly to each other in my hair but otherwise were perfectly well behaved. They really were the cutest little guys and the perfect pets. I was gladder than ever that I’d rescued them after hearing that they were mildly telepathic. Imagine the poor things having to hear their buddy screaming inside their heads while he got chewed up and swallowed! Ugh! If I ever saw Count Doloroso again— which I never hoped to do, but if I did—I’d give him a piece of my mind and a kick in the balls. What a jerk, trying to eat such adorable little creatures!

At last, after about thirty minutes of flying, we came to a kind of countryside—if you could call it that. Mostly it just looked like a big, open, barren plain with no buildings on it. There weren’t any trees or lakes or animals either, but there was a dark, scraggly kind of grass which was apparently what passed for nature on Giedi Prime.

Once again I was reminded of the Lorax, which had been my favorite book as a kid. “At the far end of town, where the grickle-grass grows and the wind smells slow and sour when it blows…”

We hadn’t opened any of the windows in the shuttle so much as a crack but I was willing to bet the wind on this planet did smell sour. It was pretty much the nastiest, most polluted place I’d ever seen and I had visited a friend who lived in the industrial part of Houston once, so that was saying something.

“Heads up. Compound ahead,” Sarden said.

“What?” I asked, frowning. “I don’t see any…”

And then I saw it. Sitting in the middle of the dark field of sickly grickle-grass, was an enormous dome. It was black too—pure, shiny, bible-black—which was why I hadn’t immediately seen it. It rose out of the blighted ground like a bubble of diseased blood that might burst and spew ichor everywhere at any moment. Yech.

Sarden brought the shuttle down right in front of the curving, shiny black side and then spoke into some kind of communicator in a technical-sounding jargon I couldn’t make heads or tails of.

Whoever was on the other end seemed to get it though, because after a moment, the black bubble started to swell outward and then it just sort of enveloped our shuttle. Kind of like an amoeba envelopes its prey, when it eats some other hapless, microscopic creature living in its pond of dirty rainwater. Which is how I felt when the giant black bubble grew to encapsulate us—tiny…microscopic.

Also kind of claustrophobic.

“Um, are we going to be able to get out of here all right?” I asked, trying not to sound nervous and failing miserably.

“They’ll let us out the same way we came in,” Sarden assured me as the black border of the bubble passed over us. It swallowed the shuttle whole, leaving us in a big parking area that looked like a warehouse. “Hopefully with Sellah and Teeny in tow.”

“From your lips to the Goddess’s ears,” Grav muttered, adjusting the knives he had clipped to the spiked leather straps criss-crossing his muscular chest.

“Everybody be quiet now—here comes Tazaxx’s emissary,” Sarden muttered. “Remember, we need to get in and out of here as quickly as possible. The saphor solution I took to change my skin color has a time limit on it.”

“How long are we talking?” Grav wanted to know.

“One solar hour—two max. But hopefully it won’t be a problem—we should be in and out of here fast—Tazaxx isn’t known for prolonging business deals.”

“Can’t you just take more if it starts to wear off?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Doesn’t work that way. The solution has a two solar-hour recovery time on it—it won’t work again after it wears off until that time is up.”

“Oh, okay. Then I guess we’d better be quick,” I said.

“We will be,” Sarden said grimly.

“All right—let’s go. I’m ready.” Grav cracked his knuckles again, making me shudder. He might be Sarden’s friend but the fact that he was such a big, scary guy and a confessed murderer meant I was still kind of nervous around him.

“All right—I’m popping the hatch,” Sarden said.

The door to the shuttle opened and I leaned forward eagerly, trying to see the emissary.

What I saw was a giant piece of crap wearing a rainbow-colored cape.

At least, that was what it appeared to be. A giant, man-sized poo that had somehow managed to stand up on end and learned to move.

Okay, sorry for the gross mental image but seriously—that’s just exactly what it looked like. It slid forward smoothly and I looked behind it, wondering if it was leaving a trail of slime. There was no slime, though, and after a minute I saw why—its bottom half had about a million tiny little legs and feet all over it and they were moving kind of like a caterpillar’s legs to carry it along.

It had a vaguely human looking face in the middle of its lumpy head—by which I mean it had two eyes, a sort of nose, and a round, lipless mouth. Out of the mouth came a nasal, croaking voice like a bullfrog with a cold.

“You are Baron Van’Dleek?” it demanded, waving a lumpy arm at Sarden.

“I am.” Sarden, who was dressed in his Miami Vice best with the baggy white trousers and black, boxy jacket stepped out of the shuttle and looked down his nose at the moving piece of crap who was apparently our guide.

Sarden was looking good, despite his new light blue skin and the Van’Dleek mask. It was amazing how well the smart-fabric conformed to his face—it even hid his horns. And the fact that the jacket hung open, revealing his mouthwateringly muscular torso didn’t hurt either.

I noticed, though, that he was careful to keep his trousers closed when he moved, so as not to expose himself by accident. Which was a good thing—a wardrobe malfunction is one thing but letting his entire wang dangle outside the white pants would definitely ruin the cool, 80s look he had going.

“You and your entourage will have to be scanned before being admitted to the main compound,” the moving crap informed him as he stepped down.

Sarden gave our guide a condescending sneer. “Of course. But make it quick—I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

I stared at him in surprise as I scrambled out of the shuttle with a helping hand from Grav. Wow, he was nailing the rich douche-nozzle part right off the bat!

“Of course.” The piece of crap—at some point we would probably learn his name but he was always going to be POC to me—nodded stiffly.

He produced a large instrument that looked like a bullhorn from under his colorful, rainbow cape. Pointing it at Sarden’s face, he pressed a button. A blue light illuminated Sarden’s features for a moment, then went dark again.

POC consulted a screen that was on the back of the bullhorn and frowned. “Hmm…these readings are most…peculiar,” he said in his nasally bullfrog-with-a-cold voice.

“What are you talking about? Hurry up! I don’t have all day,” Sarden snapped.

“But…these readings…” POC looked worried and he wasn’t the only one. My stomach did a little flip. Was it possible that the smart-fabric wasn’t smart enough to do the job? Could the scanner POC was using see through Sarden’s disguise? If so we were so screwed…

“I can’t help it if your equipment isn’t up to par,” Sarden barked, scowling at POC.

“But—”

“You have exactly two solar seconds to finish this scan and let me pass,” Sarden snapped. “If you’re not done by then, I’m getting back in my shuttle and leaving and I’m taking my credit with me.”

“But—” POC said again, helplessly.

“Nor will I be at the auction later, though your Master specifically invited me,” Sarden continued, giving POC a withering look. “I didn’t come all this way to be insulted.”

I had to give Sarden credit for his performance—he sounded like every rich, South Tampa customer with a snotty attitude I’d ever dealt with back when I was working retail in college. Poor POC was obviously bowled over by it too. Seeing the look of abject terror on what passed for his face, I almost felt sorry for him.

“Forgive me,” he burbled in his bullfrog voice. “Master Tazaxx very much wants to meet with you, Baron Van’Dleek. Please come right this way and bring your entourage with you.”

“That’s more like it.” Sarden straightened his jacket with a few huffy jerks and flicked at an imaginary speck of dust off one immaculate sleeve. “Lead on. And I hope you brought transportation. I don’t walk.”

“Of course—of course.” The POC made an obsequious bow which almost tipped him over—he was kind of top-heavy—and led us from the large landing area, which appeared to be in some kind of vast warehouse, to a large door.

The door slid open at our approach and I caught my breath. The scene here was in direct contrast to the outside of the black bubble.

The sky overhead was a pale, lovely purple, filled with sunlight and big puffy white clouds floating by. We had stepped out onto a kind of rolling meadow, covered in thick, neatly clipped dark blue grass. There were wildflowers and trees with purple bark and blue leaves. Here and there I saw little furry creatures that looked kind of like a cross between a cat and a raccoon nibbling the lush vegetation. Really, except for the color palate, it looked like something out of a Disney film.

“Wow,” I breathed, looking around as POC lead us to a device that looked kind of like a large bright green golf cart with caterpillar treads instead of wheels.

“Fuckin’ nice,” Grav agreed under his breath. Sarden said nothing, just looked around with a faintly bored expression on his face as though he’d seen it all before and this was no different. I wondered how he had learned to play a rich, entitled jerk so well.

“If you’d care to take a seat, Baron Van’Dleek,” POC burbled, indicating the cart. “I’ll be happy to drive you and your entourage to the main house.”

“That’s acceptable,” Sarden murmured coolly. He settled himself in the back of the cart, leaving POC to take the wheel at the front.

Grav sat beside POC and glared at him, presumably for extra intimidation and I sat beside Sarden, at his feet.

“Hey—you don’t have to be down there,” Sarden muttered to me, his voice pitched low so POC couldn’t hear him.

“Yes, I do,” I whispered back. “You’re playing your role and I’m playing mine.” I batted my lashes at him and leaned against his leg, looking up at him with a flirty little smile.

He rumbled laughter and reached down to stroke my hair, an action my nib-nibs objected to by chattering angrily and running to the other side of my neck. Their little claws gave me a ticklish feeling but I was more interested in the sensation of Sarden’s long fingers caressing my curls.

I had only meant to get into character—the adoring slave girl staring up at her master. But his hand felt so warm against my head—so right. I nuzzled my cheek against his palm and looked into his eyes. His face looked different because of the mask but the expression he was wearing was unmistakable—desire and tenderness that made me catch my breath with yearning of my own.

Stop it, I told myself. He’s playing a part—that’s all! But somehow I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his until the garish green golf cart came to a jerky halt.

“And here is the main house of Master Tazaxx who is expecting you,” POC said.

I tore my gaze from Sarden’s at last and looked up to see a large, rounded dome-shaped building that looked a lot like the black bubble dome we were in. But this one was pink. Not pastel pink or even rose pink—it was full on, blazing pink—a shade so bright it hurt your eyes to look at it.

There were doorways and windows on the curving side of the hot pink dome and all of them were outlined entirely in what appeared to be solid gold. Apparently Tazaxx liked to flaunt his wealth.

“Wow—classy décor,” I muttered to Sarden.

He just gave me a look.

“This way,” POC said and led the way up a curving pathway made of smooth, electric blue stones which might have been some kind of sapphires to the front door. I stared in disbelief. The doorknob was an enormous diamond. Ostentatious much?

I wished I could twist it off and stick it in my pocket for a souvenir because Leah and Charlotte were never going to believe all this without some proof. But that would be stealing—plus, the Slave Leia outfit I had on didn’t have pockets. It was really sexy though—I’d thought Sarden would swallow his tongue when he first saw me in it—which, if I’m honest, was the exact reaction I was going for. I liked the way it swirled around my legs as I walked, even if I did feel a little exposed in it.

But enough about my sexy disguise. POC was leading us into the garishly expensive pink dome-mansion and we all had to be on our toes.

Speaking of toes, POC opened the gold encrusted, diamond-handled door and ushered us into the hot pink dome…and right into a half-inch puddle of water.

“Oh!” I jumped back but my toes—and the rest of my feet—were already wet. Then I looked at the vast, pink marble floor (yes, the neon pink theme continued inside too) and saw that it wasn’t just a puddle—the entire floor was flooded with a half inch of water. Was Tazaxx having a plumbing problem? “What the Hell?” I muttered to Sarden.

“Apologies but Master Tazaxx is going through his molting cycle at the moment and requires moisture,” POC told us. “Be so kind as to leave your footwear outside the door if you do not wish it to get wet.”

Molting, huh? That sounded interesting. I took off the little strappy sandals I’d had Al synthesize for me and left them on the hot pink doorstep. Sarden and Grav did the same and then rolled up their trousers. Then we all filed into the house barefoot.

Inside, POC led us through several large empty rooms with high, rounded ceilings that had strange artwork on them. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was because it kept moving and changing—shifting colors and forms that didn’t seem to have any kind of pattern. After awhile, my neck started getting a crick in it so I looked down and stopped trying to figure it out.

Finally we came to an area about as big as a ballroom with only two things in it. The first was a raised dais about two feet tall.

“This is where your interview with Master Tazaxx will be conducted,” POC informed us. “If you will please ascend to the platform?”

Well, at least it looked dry up there, which would be a vast improvement over the wet marble floor—my toes were getting pruney. It also faced the only other thing in the room, which appeared to be a giant mud puddle.

“Um, what are we supposed to do?” I asked Sarden in a low voice as we all climbed up onto the platform. It was a high step for me so he simply lifted me by the waist and set me down beside him.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen Tazaxx during his molting phase,” he murmured. “This is all new to me.”

“If you will please be patient, Master Tazaxx will be ready to speak with you in a moment,” POC said. He hadn’t climbed onto the platform with us, (maybe because his tiny little caterpillar legs couldn’t reach that high?) and was still standing in the inch-deep water on the floor below us.

We stood silently on the platform—which was carpeted in the same dark blue grass we had seen outside—and faced the mud puddle. It looked brown and thick—more like a mud slick than an actual mud puddle, I guessed. In fact, the more I looked at it, the more I thought it seemed to have patterns in it.

There were two swirls at the top of it that looked almost like eyes, and then another swirl below and between them which could almost be a nose, and a wide curve below that which looked like a frowning mouth.

That was when the curve opened and a thunderous voice asked, “Who dares to disturb my molting?”

I nearly jumped right into Sarden’s arms.

“Oh my God,” I gasped. “It spoke—the mud puddle spoke!”

“That’s no mud puddle,” Grav growled softly from his post behind Sarden. “That’s fuckin’ Tazaxx.”

“Master, this is Baron Van’Dleek of Frellex,” POC said quickly. “I informed you earlier that he had come to Giedi Prime early because he wished to see your private collection before the auction. You told me to allow him entrance to the compound. Do you remember?”

“Remember?” roared the mud puddle. “Of course I remember. I’m molting—not mentally incompetent, Floosh.”

So that was POC’s name. Hmm, not much of an improvement as far as I was concerned.

Then the mud puddle—or Tazaxx I guess—began to shift and change. A man-sized column of mud suddenly rose out of the puddle and began to mold itself into something else.

I watched, fascinated, as arms and legs formed and then a clearly defined torso, head, face, and even hair. It was like watching an artist sculpting clay in fast-motion—only there was no artist and the clay was sculpting itself.

Soon a mud-man about six feet tall, stood before us. It was brown all over and completely naked. Its rather large, uh, equipment, lay against one thigh.

“There,” the man said in the same thundering voice the mud puddle had used. “Now I am better equipped to speak to you.”

“That was amazing,” I blurted, before I thought about it.

“I was merely being polite,” Tazaxx assured me. “Of course, the main part of my being is still on the molting room floor.” The mud man nodded at the vast mud puddle, which didn’t seem to have shrunk at all. “But I am able to animate a part of myself for a considerable range away from my central mass.” He stepped forward and held out a hand to me. “And you are?”

“Oh, uh…I’m Zoe. Nice to meet you.” Uncertainly I let him take my hand for a moment in a kind of shake. His mud-fingers were cool and damp like wet clay. I had the immediate urge to pull my hand away and wipe it off but forced myself not to, knowing it would be considered rude.

My nib-nibs, however, weren’t quite as disgusted as I was. Or maybe they were just curious. Two of them ran down my arm to take a closer look at Tazaxx.

“Well, well,” he remarked. “And what do we have here?”

“Zoe is my bonded concubine,” Sarden growled, pulling me firmly away from the handshake, for which I was grateful. “And those are simply her pets.”

“Mmm, a most enchanting creature.” The mud man took a step back from the dais and actually licked his fingers, as though he wanted to taste where we had been touching somehow. Ugh. I tried not to make a face as the nib-nibs ran back up my arm to take their place in my hair. “I don’t believe I have encountered one of your kind before,” he remarked to me, still licking his mud-lips with a brown mud-tongue.

“You do us honor, taking our shape to speak with us,” Sarden said, clearly changing the subject. He gave an abbreviated bow which Tazaxx returned.

“Then why do you not do me honor in turn?” he demanded, his mud-brown eyes narrowing.

“I am…not certain what you mean.” Sarden frowned. “We are standing on this platform as your, uh, as Floosh instructed us. What more do you want?”

“Floosh said you were Frellian, did he not?” the mud man demanded.

“Well, yes, but…ah.” Suddenly Sarden seemed to understand what Tazaxx was talking about.

I remembered at the same time—the mud man was naked, exposing his equipment—apparently he expected Sarden to do the same.

Well, so much for not caring about Frellian customs.

“Forgive me. I was…transfixed by your transformation,” Sarden said in a flat voice. He reached into the flap in his loose white trousers to pull out his shaft and that was when I saw it.

His equipment wasn’t blue, like the rest of his skin anymore. Or at least, not all blue. The broad, flaring head of it was the dark, maroon red—his natural skin color.

Oh no! Oh my God! my mind babbled. What the hell was going on? Then I remembered Sarden’s words before we left the shuttle—he’d said that the saphor stuff he’d taken to change his skin color wouldn’t last very long. But surely it was supposed to last longer than this? How long had we been here, anyway? Maybe he had gotten a bad batch?

Whatever the case, he couldn’t go exposing the fact that he wasn’t all the same light blue color Van’Dleek was supposed to be anymore. But if he didn’t, Tazaxx would take offense and probably refuse to sell us Sellah and Teeny. Something had to be done, and quick.

I did the only thing I could think of—I dropped to my knees in front of him and took his long, hard shaft in my hands, hiding his multicolored member with my face and hair

“Zoe?” Sarden was plainly startled. I was pretty shocked myself—it wasn’t like I was used to doing this kind of thing on the spur of the moment—or in public for that matter. But since I was playing the adoring, sex-starved slave girl, I decided to really go for it.

“Master,” I murmured, rubbing my cheek against his long, hard length. “Master, forgive me but you know whenever I see your hugeness I cannot restrain myself.”

As I spoke, I looked up at him and pointed meaningfully at the broad crown of his shaft.

“Uh…” Sarden’s eyes widened as he saw that his skin was turning back from blue to red.

“What is going on here? Why are you perverting the Frellian form of greeting?” Tazaxx demanded.

“You’ll have to, uh, forgive my concubine,” Sarden said in a slightly strangled voice. “She’s Niciniean—they’re notorious for their sexual appetites.”

“Ah, I see,” I heard Tazaxx say. “A Niciniean, eh? I don’t think I’ve ever encountered such a female before. Do you find it difficult to keep her satisfied?”

“Not as long as I allow her to, ah, gratify me several times a day.” Sarden cleared his throat. “And I gratify her as well. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come alone to meet with you before the auction. I find it…difficult to take her out in public as she’s prone to this…this kind of behavior whenever I try to greet someone in the traditional Frellian way.”

All this time, I was still rubbing Sarden’s shaft—which had grown considerably—and trying to hide him with my face and hair. (Luckily my nib-nibs were staying well back, not that I was thinking of them at the moment.)

I know it sounds weird that I was doing this in front of everyone, but actually, I was kind of enjoying it. Sarden’s rich, spicy, masculine scent was stronger here and I liked the way the hot, silky skin of his shaft felt against my cheek. In fact, I was feeling extremely sexy, kneeling at his feet in my slave girl outfit and pretending to worship his cock. From the look in Sarden’s eyes when he stroked my curls and how hard he had gotten, he was feeling pretty turned on himself.

“And the only way to slake her thirst is to allow her to take you in her mouth?” Tazaxx asked, still sounding extremely interested.

“Yes. Unfortunately.” Sarden’s deep voice still sounded somewhat choked and a tremble ran through his big body.

“Oh, Master,” I moaned, playing it up and rubbing harder. I couldn’t help the thrill that ran through me, making my nipples tight under my metal bra and my sex feel wet and slippery between my thighs. This might be just pretend but I liked that I was having such a strong effect on him. I was the one on my knees but just by touching him, I was making him shake. It made me feel naughty and hot and incredibly powerful.

“Ah, how interesting. Of course, we Gords divide and reproduce asexually, but I’ve always been fascinated by the mating rituals of other species,” Tazaxx remarked.

And then he actually came around to the side of the dais, as though he wanted to get a better look!

Just like that, pretending went out the window. I had no choice—I put Sarden in my mouth.

The broad head of Sarden’s cock was the only thing I could fit—he was that big—but luckily, that was the only part that had changed back to his normal color so I was able to hide what needed to be hidden.

Sarden made a strangled sound and his hand, which had been gently stroking my head, suddenly tightened reflexively in my hair.

“Gods, Zoe,” he groaned and I could feel him holding back, trying not to thrust into the wet heat of my mouth.

I felt another surge of lust rush through me. He tasted good—really good—and not at all human.

During my relationship with Scott, he’d always wanted me to do this for him but I hadn’t liked it much. My ex had a musky, sour kind of flavor to his skin that I found off-putting. And as I said before, it wasn’t exactly like he was eager to return the favor.

With Sarden it was different. Salty and hot and sweet…that was what I tasted when I took him between my lips. The broad head of his cock rubbed against my tongue and the flavor of hot cinnamon candy filled my mouth—the same thing I had tasted when he kissed me, only it didn’t sting as much as his kisses had.

“Mmm,” I purred, sucking harder, trying to get more of him into my mouth. It wasn’t just the fact that I was down on my knees, giving him a public blow-job that was turning me on—there was something about his flavor too. In fact, the more I tasted it, the more I wanted. It seemed to do something to me—making my nipples tender and my sex feel wet and so swollen with need, I had to spread my legs to ease the ache.

“Zoe, you should…should stop now,” I heard Sarden say, tugging gently at my hair. “We’re…being rude to our host.”

“Not at all,” Tazaxx murmured. He seemed to have stepped back, apparently satisfied at what he had seen. “I wouldn’t like to interfere in such an enchanting creature’s sexual needs—by all means, allow her to finish you off.”

Since the mud man that was Tazaxx had stepped away some, I dared to lean back some and let the broad head slip from my mouth.

“Yes, Master,” I murmured breathily. “Let me finish you, please.”

Where in the world I got the nerve to talk like that, I don’t know. Believe me, I knew I was acting as shameless as an actress in a porno. But Sarden’s flavor was still doing something to me—it made me want more and more of him. In fact, I didn’t just want to suck him—I wanted him to take me right there on the floor of the raised platform and I didn’t care who was watching.

But Sarden shook his head firmly, a worried look in his eyes.

“No, I don’t think so. I believe you’ve had enough for now—maybe too much,” he said, making me wonder what he was talking about.

“Master,” I moaned as he tucked himself away, making sure to keep the head of his rigid shaft hidden as he did so. “Master, please.”

“No. That’s enough,” he said firmly. “Come now, Zoe, I need to discuss business with our host before it gets too late.”

He stared at me meaningfully and I realized what he was saying. If the saphor stuff was wearing off this quickly, we really didn’t have time for his, uh, oral gratification. I sat back on my heels and felt my head clearing a little now that I couldn’t smell him or taste him anymore. What was going on with me? Why had I acted like that?

“Well, if you’re sure you’d rather have business than pleasure…” Tazaxx remarked.

“I’m positive.” Sarden’s deep voice still sounded strained and the bulge in his white trousers was evident but he nodded firmly at the mud man, indicating he was ready to deal. “I’ve come here to talk about acquiring some new females for my entourage and I understand you have the best of the best in your collection.”

“That I do.” Tazaxx nodded. “Would you like to see some of them?”

“Please,” Sarden inclined his head.

“Very well,” the mud man said. “Then allow me to lead the way.”

 

 

Sarden

 

I didn’t know what in the Frozen Hells had gotten into Zoe. Or actually, I was afraid I did know, but I could hardly believe it.

Between the different species of bipedal, sentient Terran-type beings the Ancient Ones had brought into existence through their seeding of our universe, there existed certain natural laws that governed absolutely. Most peoples who had grown from the Ancient seeds were sexually compatible in some way but very few were fit to be bonded as mates for life.

What’s the difference in being able to have sex with another life form and being able to bond with them? The ability to bear viable children for one thing, but also the possibility of a permanent emotional connection that grows stronger with every year. Bonded partners can feel each other’s emotions and sometimes even hear each other’s thoughts—it’s a very rare and special occurrence.

And it never happens for half-breeds like me.

Because my DNA was mixed, I was physically unable to form such a strong and lasting connection to any female. I simply wasn’t enough either Eloim or Vorn for a bond to form. And yet, since I had healed Zoe orally and tasted her sweet pussy and she had tasted me as well, I could feel something forming between us. A longing to get closer…a longing that just for a moment, I could swear I felt coming from her as an emotion that touched my soul.

It’s your imagination, I told myself impatiently as we filed off the raised platform and followed the mud creature Tazaxx had become out of the molting room. You can’t bond with anyone—let alone a Pure One.

But if that was true, then why was her scent so sweet when she tasted me? And why had she been so eager to taste even more? Why had I felt her longing? Her desire?

She was putting on an act—hiding you from Tazaxx, I told myself.

But when I glanced down at her, I saw she was still watching me with need in those lovely blue eyes of hers and I swore I could feel it still, as a tingle at my very core. I could hardly look away from her. Gods, the idea that I might ever form that kind of lasting connection with a female…it was an impossible dream. One I had never dared to hope for.

And you shouldn’t hope for it now, the implacable little voice lectured. Especially not with a female you’ve promised to return to her home planet.

Of course, I knew it was right. There was no point in getting attached to Zoe or letting her get attached to me.

Which was exactly what I was afraid was happening.

 

 

Zoe

Sarden was quiet as Tazaxx led us out of the molting room and through a wide doorway to a dark hallway beyond. I wondered if he was mad at me—I couldn’t be sure how he was feeling by the blank look on his face. Well, if he was mad, he would just have to get over it—it wasn’t like I’d acted like a porn star just because I liked it.

Oh, you liked it all right, whispered an accusing little voice in my brain. You more than liked it—you didn’t want to stop!

I squirmed uncomfortably, but I had to admit it was true. I hadn’t wanted to stop. There was something about the whole experience—not just the way he tasted or felt in my mouth, it was almost like we were forming some kind of connection.

Okay, now you’re talking crazy, the little voice informed me. There’s no connection here. You’re just along for the ride until Sarden gets his sister back and then it’s back to Earth for you. So stop being all mushy and stupid and get the job done.

Right—that was exactly what I intended to do. I made myself look away from Sarden and pay attention to the darkened hallway we now found ourselves in. It was a long, vast corridor and every hundred feet or so, there was a large, lighted window. Honestly, what it most reminded me of was the reptile area at the zoo—where they kept the room dark so you could see the animals on display better.

We came to the first window and Tazaxx stopped, his bare, mud feet slapping against the cold stone floor.

“Now here we have a Zulian,” he said, pointing to the lighted window. “As you can see, I’ve done my best to preserve her in her native habitat. She’s quite lovely, is she not?”

I looked in through the window and saw a kind of lighted aquarium. Inside long, colorful kelp-like plants swayed in pale pink liquid. Swimming through them was an honest-to-God mermaid. She moved with graceful flips of her long green tail, which shone like jewels in the pinkish water and her hair flowed, long and blonde, over her slim shoulders.

My heart went out to this poor creature in captivity—if Sarden hadn’t had a change of heart, that could have been me. I thought I had never seen anyone more beautiful and harmless looking.

At least, she looked harmless at first.

When we got closer, she swam up to the glass and hissed at Tazaxx, baring a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth that reminded me of a barracuda. Her eyes went blood red and the tips of her fingers grew three inch long claws—all in the space of a second or two. It was like one of those scary gifs on the Internet where one minute someone looks normal and the next they have a demon face.

“Holy crap!” I jumped back from the window and put a hand to my pounding heart.

“Yes, she is quite a spectacle, isn’t she?” Tazaxx was the only one of us who hadn’t started, at least a little, when the mermaid went all feral on us. “Not for sale, I am afraid. Her planet has since been destroyed so she is the only one of her kind left. Really, I did the poor creature a service rescuing her before her home world was blown to smithereens by an errant asteroid.”

I wondered if the feral mermaid felt like he’d done her a “favor.” From the way she continued to snarl and gnash her needle-sharp teeth, it didn’t look like it to me.

We went on to the next window which contained a kind of desert scene. Bright green sand and dry, spiky plants were the first things I saw. A mercilessly hot light—like the sun at noon—beat down from the roof of the room. I could feel its savage heat right through the glass of the display case.

Then one of the “plants”—a large, purple cactus-looking one—moved. First one slender limb, then another and then another, each of them covered with long, sharp needles, shifted in our direction. It looked like the cactus was creeping up on us in slow motion. Only when it got right up to the glass did I see that it had a face with wide, staring eyes, slits for nostrils, and a tiny, lipless mouth.

“A Dendrite,” Tazaxx informed us. “Taken from the barren world of Towen Omega. Also not for sale unless you have the means to care for her properly. She needs a six hundred terra-watt heat ray set to maximum constantly to survive and thrive.”

I looked into the wide, alien eyes of the Dendrite girl and she stared back at me. I couldn’t help thinking again of how this could have been me. What kind of habitat would Tazaxx have built me? A Starbucks?

Here we see the white girl in her natural habitat—notice the counter where she is able to order unlimited variations of a beverage Earthlings call “caw-fee.” There are limitless possible combinations of ingredients for this Earth delicacy but they all taste basically the same…

“If you don’t mind, Tazaxx, my time is somewhat limited,” Sarden remarked, derailing my train of thought. “So I’d like to see only those females you feel you can part with.”

“Very well—can you tell me if you’re looking for anything in particular?” Tazaxx’s mud-brown eyes flashed in the dark hallway.

“Hmm…” Sarden pretended to consider. “Well, I do prefer young females—one can raise them correctly to service if one gets them young enough.”

“Ah, well I do have a rather recent acquisition,” Tazaxx remarked. “Sold to me by Byrillian pirates—barely twelve cycles old, as I recall.”

Behind us, I could feel Grav shifting impatiently but he said nothing, though I knew he was itching to see the girl he was warding and make sure she was safe.

“Well…” Sarden pretended to think again, then nodded. “All right. I’ll see her.”

“This way, then.”

Tazaxx in his mud-man shape, led us further down the long, curving, darkened hallway. We were getting pretty far from the molting room and I wondered how far this form would take him, considering he had left most of himself back in the mud puddle. I remembered he had said that he was able to go quite a distance away from the main part of himself—but how far exactly?

We passed many strange looking females of all different exotic species, some humanoid and some not even recognizable as living beings—at least to me. It really was a zoo and I felt sorry for all the exhibits, even the ones that looked like rocks or plants or—in one case—a cross between a dolphin and a Doberman.

At last we came to a case made to look like a sitting room. There was a fireplace with blue flames dancing in the grate, a large, comfortable looking red chair with a high back and scrolled arms, and a flowered carpet on the floor. Interesting and expensive art work hung on the walls and a low table with five curved legs was set to one side of the chair.

A plate on the table was heaped with what looked like tasty little cakes in every color of the rainbow and there was a triangular cup with steam rising from it. Was it some kind of tea? I didn’t know—my eyes were drawn away from the surroundings when I saw a movement in the center of the chair.

Someone was sitting in it—a slender girl was huddled in one corner with her back to us. Her dress was almost the same deep, velvety red of the chair which was why I hadn’t seen her right away. I couldn’t see her face because she had it buried in her hands. As I watched, her slight shoulders shook and I realized she must be crying.

Poor little thing! My heart went out to her—how homesick and scared she must be in this big, awful, weird place! Tazaxx was a monster for keeping her locked up like this.

Behind me I heard Grav breathe, “Teeny,” in a low voice not much more than a growl. I glanced back at him and saw that he was holding himself back with an iron will. Every muscle in his big body was bunched with tension and his huge hands were curled into fists. A vein throbbed in his temple, just to the side of one of his curving, black horns and a muscle jumped in his jaw. I thought he looked like he might rush forward and break the glass of the little prisoner’s display case at any minute. But somehow, he managed not to.

“She looks all right,” Sarden remarked. “But it’s difficult to see her.”

“Here…you. Come forward.” Tazaxx tapped sharply on the glass.

The girl in the chair jumped, her thin shoulders twitching with the motion. Slowly she stood and turned to face us. She had pale, almost translucent skin in the most delicate shade of sage green imaginable and a cable of thick, black hair.

I could see by her tear-streaked cheeks that I was right—she had indeed been crying. Her eyes were a gorgeous shade of violet, red rimmed now, from weeping. With her delicate coloring and jewel-like eyes, I thought she looked like a little elf or fairy.

“Come here!” Tazaxx ordered her, tapping the glass again.

Slowly, uncertainly, the girl walked forward. It wasn’t until she was right up against the glass that she really saw us—or should I say, that she saw Grav.

Her violet eyes went wide as she looked at him and I saw hope fill her thin face and flush her pale cheeks. Her mouth started to form his name but I saw him give her a short, sharp shake of his head.

Biting her lip, the girl looked down, her thin fingers twisting in the skirts of the red dress she wore.

“Hmm…” Sarden nodded. “Yes, I like her,” he said, turning to Tazaxx. “She’s young enough to train and she’ll be quite lovely when she’s grown in a few years. What’s your asking price?”

“One hundred thousand credits,” Tazaxx said, without blinking an eye.

“What?” Sarden frowned. “I thought I might get a better deal here than at the auction. It’s ridiculous to ask so much for an ungrown girl with no particular rarity or skill set.”

“But she is rare—not her species, per say—she’s only a common Thonilan. But there are other forms of rarity, my dear Baron Van’Dleek,” Tazaxx assured him. “This little female is the last living heir to the House of Yanux—one of the ruling families of her people. As a result, she is very rare indeed.”

“Hmm…I do like having girls with good pedigrees in my entourage,” Sarden said, sounding for all the world as though he was talking about some kind of purebred animal like a racehorse instead of a sentient being. “Do you have any more like that? Any more royalty? Perhaps we can make a deal if so.”

“Alas…” Tazaxx made a face. “I did have a very fine Eloim female in my collection until very recently.”

“You did have?” I heard the slightly strangled sound in Sarden’s voice but to his credit, he managed to keep his features blank and only mildly interested. “What happened to her? Did you sell her?”

“Unfortunately, no. She had the Crimson Death. I didn’t know it when she first came to me—it’s lucky I keep my treasures isolated or it might have spread to all of them.”

“The…Crimson Death?” Sarden’s voice sounded harsh and his cool, indifferent manner was slipping somewhat. “So she’s too ill to see—is that what you’re saying?”

“Oh, no—you may see her if you like. Come.”

Tazaxx led the way down the darkened hallway. Sarden’s broad shoulders were tense and his gait was wooden but somehow he kept going. I wanted to slip my hand into his and comfort him the same way he had comforted me when I told him about Angie, but I didn’t know how he would take it.

We walked past a few more lighted windows and then we came to one that was dark.

“Lights!” Tazaxx called, raising his voice and tapping on the glass.

At once, the lights came up in the case, revealing a bare room with a single raised platform in the center. On the platform lay a girl—or what used to be a girl.

Her body was bent in a position of agony—the back arched as though she had died trying to get a last breath. Her long, silky black hair was matted and dull and her golden cat’s eyes, so much like Sarden’s, were open but empty. Glazed and lifeless, they stared at us and I noticed rivulets of dried blood had leaked from their corners. Her full lips were painted red too, and gore ran down her chin.

Clearly she had died in agony.

“Gods,” Sarden whispered hoarsely. “Oh Gods.”

“Yes, it is rather disturbing, isn’t it?” Tazaxx didn’t sound disturbed by the gruesome sight at all. If anything, I thought he sounded bored. “I’ve had to leave her here, unfortunately. It would be quite dangerous to unseal the room at this point. We need to give it a full sixty solar days before we break the seal and spray in the anti-viral agents.”

“She…she…” Sarden clearly couldn’t finish.

I slipped my hand into his, not caring if he wanted me to or not—I had to comfort him, to help ease the numbing pain I saw on his face. A pain I swore I could almost feel in my own heart.

“She’s been gone for about a week, I believe,” Tazaxx said. “We did the best we could for her but after a certain point, nothing but intervention by the Goddess of Mercy herself would have been enough to save her.”

“What…what are you going to do with the…with her body?” I could feel Sarden’s big frame trembling, yet still he was trying to keep from showing his pain. I understood why—we had to keep the pretense up at least a little while longer if we were going to rescue Teeny.

Tazaxx shrugged his mud shoulders stiffly, as though he wasn’t used to making the gesture and was only copying what he had seen others do.

“Burn it, most likely. It’s the only safe method of disposal when dealing with the Crimson Death.”

“Her ashes…” Sarden made a choking noise. “I need them.”

“What?” Tazaxx frowned. “Whatever for?”

“A gift to the Eloim government,” I said quickly, improvising. “My, uh, Master is entering into trade agreements with them. If he could give them…give them her ashes, it might be taken as a sign of, uh, goodwill.”

“So it could. Yes, I see.” Tazaxx nodded. “Very well. I’ll be pleased to send you the ashes—for a nominal fee of course.”

“Of course.” Sarden’s deep voice was wooden.

“And do you wish to see any other females?” Tazaxx inquired, raising one mud-eyebrow.

“No, I…no.” Sarden coughed. “Just the one. The little Thonilan.”

“Yes, indeed. I tell you what—since I couldn’t satisfy your other offer, I’ll give her to you for a mere ninety-nine thousand.” Tazaxx nodded genially, as if he was being generous.

“Yes, all right. Ninety-nine is all right,” Sarden said in a low voice. “I…I really must be going now. If you could just have her delivered to my shuttle.”

“I’d be happy to. Come right this way.” Tazaxx tapped the wall beside the lighted room with Sellah’s body in it. To my surprise, it slid open smoothly, revealing another long, dark corridor. “It’s a shortcut,” Tazaxx explained when I looked at it in surprise. “An underground passageway from my display area back to the docking accommodations where your shuttle is parked. We can arrange for payment there since you’re in such a rush.”

“Of course. Thank you,” Sarden said mechanically. I was getting really worried about him—he seemed like he was barely holding it together. I squeezed his hand and looked up at him but he didn’t respond. Even with the smart-fabric mask on, I could tell his face was set like a stone.

He’s still numb, I thought as we followed Tazaxx through the short-cut corridor. It hasn’t really hit him yet, but it will. I intended to be there for him when it did. I felt so bad for him, seeing his sister like that! What a terrible, gruesome death. And she had died alone, isolated in that horrible cage with no one to help her bear the pain or hold her hand. Poor Sellah…

I squeezed Sarden’s hand harder and felt my eyes burning. My throat was tight and somehow I couldn’t seem to swallow the lump that had formed there.

“Here we are. I’ll just go get Floosh to see to the financial transaction and fetch your purchase,” Tazaxx remarked as we came out into the warehouse where Sarden’s small shuttle was parked. “I’ll return shortly.”

He left us alone, disappearing back through the door we had come from, and for a moment we just stood there.

“Sarden…” I said at last but he didn’t look at me. “Sarden.”

At last he turned his head.

“Yes?” he asked in a low, toneless voice. “What is it?”

“Sarden, please.” I stood on my tiptoes and put my arms around his neck, trying to bring him down to me, trying to ease his pain.

At first he didn’t seem to know what I was doing but then he bent down, letting me hug him even if he didn’t exactly hug me back.

“Sarden,” I said again, pressing my face to his neck. “Honey, I’m so sorry.”

He fell to his knees then, his arms wrapping around my midsection, his face pressed between my breasts. I put my arms around him tight—wishing I could take the pain for him. For a long moment, we stayed like that, with Sarden holding me silently. He didn’t cry but I could feel the ache of grief inside him—I swear I could.

“I failed her,” he said at last, his deep voice hoarse with agony. “She’s been gone a whole week. I should have come sooner. I should have found her before she got sick. I—”

“There was nothing you could have done,” I whispered. “You tried—you did everything you could.”

“No, I didn’t,” he said fiercely, pulling away. “I never should have left her in the first place—I should have fought for my place on the throne. But I told myself it wasn’t worth it—that the Eloim people wouldn’t want a half-breed ruling them. I left the responsibility and burden to Sellah and that idiot, Hurxx, who didn’t protect her. Who let her get taken…”

“I’m so sorry.” I felt tears running down my cheeks and couldn’t seem to stop them.

“Don’t be.” Sarden’s eyes glittered as he looked at me. He cupped my cheek in his palm. “I thank you for your tears, Zoe, because I cannot shed them myself.”

“Why not?” I asked, swiping at my eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“I can’t let myself grieve until I get vengeance.” He stood and looked down at me, his voice a low, menacing growl. “Vengeance on the pirates who took her in the first place…and on my fool of a cousin, Hurxx, who should have protected her and didn’t.”

“And Tazaxx?” I asked, knowing he was probably somewhere on that list.

Sarden nodded. “But not now—later when he’s least expecting it. After Grav has had time to take his ward to safety.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Grav rumbled. He hadn’t said a word this whole time but I could see the terrible compassion on his face. “There are no words for the pain you must feel,” he told Sarden. “I will help you take vengeance for Sellah’s death if you wish.”

“Thank you.” Sarden nodded formally. “I will take you up on that offer.”

“Here we are. I believe this is the female you purchased?” It was Floosh—or POC as I had been calling him in my head. He waddled in from the back door with Teeny in tow. Her eyes got wide when she saw Grav but she didn’t say a thing.

Sarden and Grav shot each other one last meaningful look but Sarden didn’t utter another word else except to thank POC for bringing the girl.

“If you would like to follow me to my Master’s back office, we can arrange for the payment,” POC said to him.

“Fine. I’ll come.” Sarden squared his shoulders. “My new acquisition will be safe with my Protector.”

“As you wish.” POC waddled towards the door on his tiny little feet and Sarden followed him.

“I’m coming too,” I said, hurrying to stay with him. As we left the vast, echoing room, I turned my head and saw Teeny rush into Grav’s arms.

“Grav! You came! You came for me!” she whispered breathlessly. He laughed and swung her around, looking happier and less scary than any time I could remember since I’d met him in the VIP lounge.

“Teeny! Didn’t I promise I would always come for you? Didn’t I swear it on my life?” He squeezed her very gently to his broad chest and she covered his rough face in kisses. She looked like a little girl greeting an adoring uncle—I couldn’t believe the big, tough Vorn (or Vorn half-breed? I still didn’t know what he was) had such a soft heart.

The sweet little reunion almost made me feel a little better. Then I looked at Sarden’s broad back and felt worse again. Poor guy! And he wasn’t even going to let himself grieve until he killed everyone responsible for Sellah’s death.

He could say that but I knew the truth—there’s no way to put off that kind of deep grief. When it comes knocking, you have to open the door because you can’t keep it out.

“Just a little further down,” POC was saying as he led us around another bend in the dark tunnel. “This is my master’s accounting area…”

We were heading for an open door at the end of the corridor and passing several others along the way which all appeared to be locked. They were dark and quiet and I wondered if they were back entrances to some of the “exhibits” we had seen. Then we passed one that was different—it had a window.

Sarden had his head down, looking at his feet as he walked. I could only imagine the effort it cost him to keep up this awful charade. I, however, was looking around and so the window caught my eye—and in it, the flash of a woman’s face. A golden eye…a flick of silky, black hair… Had I really seen that?

I couldn’t be sure. It was there and gone so quickly I thought I must have imagined it. I stopped for a moment and looked again but I didn’t see anything—just a lighted square in the metal door. Just my mind playing tricks on me.

“And here I am afraid you must come in alone,” POC said, breaking my concentration. He was gesturing to the open door and talking to Sarden. “Master Tazaxx does not allow anyone but his business partners into his inner accounting sanctum.”

Sarden frowned. “I won’t leave Zoe.”

“You must, I am afraid,” POC said. “I assure you she will be quite well. Or she can go back to your Protector to wait if you like—the way back is just down the corridor.”

“Yes, do that.” Sarden nodded at me. “Go back to Grav. Stay there until this is finished.”

“All right.” I nodded and watched as he and POC went into the lighted room and shut the door, leaving me in gloom.

I should have gone back down the hallway at once—I know I should have. But something made me go look in that window we had passed one more time and that was when I saw her.

Sellah was alive.