The memory of the mouth-inspection kept Alex distracted through the next few steps. He signed and fingerprinted the contract and allowed them to place the bond collar on him. It was fastened with an electronic lock at the back, one that was connected to both Tracht’s subdermal chip and an external transmitter shaped like a ring, which Tracht casually placed on his right middle finger.
“The collar contains all the information about your contract,” Stiegler explained. “Security can scan the collar and easily verify any details. So if your contract is being breached, you run to them and explain the details, and they’ll sort it out. But don’t lie.”
The collars were for everybody’s protection. It even had a built-in emergency call function—if Alex’s distress levels rose too high, a signal would be sent to the brokerage firm who would ensure everybody was following the contract.
Then he was following Tracht into a cab that drove them across half the station towards the port. The cab window was tinted so dark that it was hard to see past a few feet, but Alex thought he recognized some of the alleys they were driving past. At least that meant he wouldn’t be too disoriented. If Tracht had dragged him out to the hoity-toity residential areas of the station, it would have put a damper on some of Alex’s plans.
The cab came to a stop near the entrance to the docks. Alex followed Tracht out, shivering. This close to the outer hull, the station was a lot colder. Alex’s thin slacks and tank top weren’t much protection against the chill.
“You’ll have to endure for only a little bit. I keep my chambers on the ship well-warmed, and we’ll find you some practical clothing for the time we spend in other areas of the ship, or on station,” Tracht commented.
So, mouth-fingering aside, Tracht was a conscientious guy. Alex shook off his unease and reminded himself that this was the plan; he’d agreed to be this guy’s bondservant.
The docking station looked like any docking station. Signs marked the way to individual docking gates, where loading chutes connected the spaceships to the station. With them entering the PM hours of the station, the outer hull was dimmed, allowing a clear view of the many ships docked just outside. Most of the ships had two chutes attached to them: one leading to the passenger entrance, the other one much wider and connecting to the lower half of the ship. Those chutes led to a level lower than the docks they were on.
As they were walking through the loading chute to the spaceship, Tracht glanced at him. “This has no bearing on anything, but are you attracted to men?”
“Do you think I would have accepted the contract if I wasn’t?” Alex shot back. He was okay with dudes. Didn’t mind fucking them or letting them suck him off, although he’d rather have women.
Tracht stopped to swipe his wrist over the ship’s lock. Once the door slid open, he motioned for Alex to walk ahead of him into the ship.
A guard waited on the other side, sitting up straight on his stool. “Welcome back, Captain.”
“Thank you, Mr. Ackerman. This is my new bondservant.”
That was apparently enough explanation for the guard, who went back to staring at his tablet. Tracht frowned lightly, but he smoothed his expression quickly and led Alex further.
“Going back to what you said earlier, there are plenty of debtors who believe they’ll receive a better offer from men than women. But it will be easier for you if you are attracted to men.”
“Well, I am.” Alex wasn’t sure he was attracted to Tracht, but in the end, Tracht was right that it didn’t matter. He focused on watching where he was going, his eyes not quite adjusted to the much dimmer lighting inside the ship.
Alex had been on his fair share of spaceships, hopping from station to station and solar system to solar system with his brother. All of those ships had been passenger ships though, with bright lights and wide corridors. There was just enough space in these halls for him and Tracht to walk side by side without bumping into each other. The floor and walls were all a simple gray steel, with the floor textured enough to prevent people from slipping.
Tracht placed his hand on the small of Alex’s back and pushed him towards the right. The familiarity in that touch made Alex’s hackles rise, but once again he swallowed his protest. This was what Tracht was paying for.
“Captain?”
A woman in the same uniform as Tracht approached them. She wore a severe expression, and if Alex’s brother were there, they’d be sharing a snicker about her unfortunate hairstyle.
“Ah, Ms. Espinosa. Good timing. Let me introduce my new bondservant. This is Alex.” Tracht kept his hand on Alex’s back during the introduction.
If Tracht thought this exchange would freak Alex out, he’d have to think again. He knew how to keep cool under pressure, and one slightly disapproving woman with a shitty hairstyle wasn’t going to come close to ruffling his feathers.
And she definitely disapproved. It wasn’t clear yet whether she disapproved of Alex specifically or bondservants in general, but Alex smiled at her and waved. Didn’t even try to shake her hand, because he got the feeling that wouldn’t be welcomed. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Espinosa.”
“Ms. Espinosa is my First Officer, in charge of day to day operations on the ship,” Tracht explained. “She is invaluable to keeping things running smoothly around here.”
Espinosa’s cheeks mottled red, and she bit her lip briefly. Then she cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Tracht. “Thank you, Captain. I wanted to let you know that I’ve spoken with Kipling and they’ve agreed to our terms.”
“Wonderful. Work with Larson to finish that off. If we can get everything loaded by the end of the week, we can make our way to Atalanta and meet with Spanos ahead of schedule.”
She saluted and left, but not without a final suspicious glance in Alex’s direction.
Whatever. Alex made sure to memorize the path they were walking so he’d be able to find his way around the ship.
He didn’t like the sound of what he’d heard. He wasn’t ready to leave Cadmus Station just yet, not with things so unfinished here. His brother didn’t even know where he was.
Tracht led him to an elevator, which they rode to the top deck that was accessible by a key signal from Tracht’s subdermal chip in his wrist. Tracht assured him the key would be added to his collar. “There isn’t really anything up here that’s top secret, but I value my privacy and I don’t want anybody to encroach on my personal space unless it’s an absolute emergency,” Tracht explained. “With the exception of you, of course. You’ll be expected to attend to all of my needs.”
The elevator doors opened up into a narrow hall, and the door beyond that—also locked—led to a sizeable apartment. Captain’s quarters. Tracht gave Alex the short tour: private bathroom with a tub that could only be used while they were in port and had access to surplus water (“We use the pressure scrubber while out in space”), a small office, a little living room and dining area, and beyond that, the luxurious king-sized bed.
Alex gave an impressed whistle. “You must do well for yourself.”
“Well enough to be able to afford to take on your debt, yes.” There was an amused smile on Tracht’s face, making him look just the slightest bit more approachable. “You will be able to share in my luxury if you behave yourself.” He pointed towards the cot in the corner of the room. “Otherwise, you’ll be sleeping there.”
Finally they were getting to the meat of it. Alex stretched his arms to loosen some of the tension in his shoulders. “If I behave? What’s that mean?”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult. When you are in this room, I expect you to be naked at all times.” Tracht gave a pointed look at Alex.
Fine. Alex pulled off his clothes and dumped them on the floor.
“It will be your job to keep things tidy around here. Dirty clothes go in the hamper, which you will later take to be laundered.” Tracht paused, and Alex rolled his eyes before he bent down to pick up his clothes and place them in the hamper in the corner.
When he came back, Tracht was sitting on the edge of the bed. “Every morning, you will help me get dressed, and every evening, you will help me undress.”
“You can’t do that yourself?” Alex blurted out.
“Oh, I can. But I find it very... exciting... to have you do it instead. For example: remove my boots.”
Naturally, the kind of person who bought a bondservant’s debt would be a weirdo. Alex didn’t really get it, but removing Tracht’s boots was a harmless request. He got down on his knees in front of Tracht and began undoing the right boot’s buckles. When it was loosened, he reached to pull the boot off, but was stopped by Tracht’s hand.
“Before you do that, kiss it.”
Kiss the boot? Alex couldn’t help the disgusted sneer that crossed his face.
Tracht must have seen, because he chuckled. “I suggest you get used to the idea, because you’ll be doing this every morning and every evening.” He lifted his boot higher, bringing it closer to Alex’s mouth.
Alex swallowed and reminded himself that this wouldn’t be forever. He’d never enjoy doing this, but kissing a boot wasn’t half as bad as getting a finger removed. He smothered the humiliation and leaned forward to place a kiss on the toe of the boot.
“Good,” Tracht said, and he briefly petted Alex’s head. Alex pulled back quickly and removed the damn boot. He had to steel himself to repeat the entire process with the other leg, and when the entire ordeal was done, he felt kind of weird. But Tracht seemed pleased, and keeping him sweet was the important part. Tracht had Alex put his head against his thigh and just touched Alex’s hair and face like a pet dog or something.
“Tonight I’ll teach you how to service me sexually. But do you have any questions for now? Any requests?”
Alex wanted Tracht to not be touching him, but he knew that wasn’t ever going to happen. “Um, we’re on a ship? What do you do?”
“Ah. I am the captain of the merchant space vessel Sigrun, currently contracted to the Lysander Corporation. We also take sub-contracts to fill remaining cargo space.”
The Lysander Corporation was the large conglomerate that supplied half the goods Cadmus Station needed to thrive. Cadmus was a hub station orbiting a small mining planet, notable mostly for the fact that it was a good stopover for any ships needing to refuel on trips between larger, more important planets. Alex and his brother had moved to Cadmus about two years ago, and their first job had been as warehouse staff. Just until they’d found something better.
No wonder Tracht was making bank though. You couldn’t risk a ship’s crew deciding they were better off not making the return trip to Cadmus, so of course he got paid well.
Alex flinched away at the next touch on his scar and quickly asked, “Is there an emergency manual or something? In case shit goes wrong in space.”
“Of course.” Tracht’s fingers squeezed Alex’s scarred cheek briefly. “Refrain from using foul language, please.”
He got up, dislodging Alex, and walked over to his night table. He fiddled with something for a few minutes, then came back with a much nicer tablet than Stiegler had been using. “Here you are. I’ve set up a separate login keyed to your collar, which has access to select resources.” He handed it to Alex.
“You aren’t afraid that I’m some hot-shot hacker?” Alex started scrolling through the emergency manual. He stopped on the image outlining all the emergency exits, trying to memorize the different pathways. It would be easier once he’d walked around the ship a bit—provided Tracht let him leave the room.
“I am quite certain that if you possessed any form of training or skill, you would not have decided that entering into a bondservant contract was the best possible way of clearing your debt.” Tracht placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder and squeezed.
Ugh, fuck this guy. Alex gritted his teeth and kept his eyes on the tablet, certain that he’d insult the guy if he tried to look at him right now. What did he know about Alex? It’s not like there were a lot of options for him. The debt was too large to pay off with a low-wage job, and it wasn’t like Alex could have worked at the brothels or anything, not with this face.
“You’re right. I’m not a hacker,” Alex ground out. He wasn’t a hacker, but he wasn’t entirely useless either. Tracht would just have to see.
After a few more clarifications of what he wanted (“Address me as Captain or Sir,” stood out), Tracht made Alex put on a light tunic, some fairly tight leggings, and flimsy sandals, and then took him to the ship’s med bay. The doctor there x-rayed his teeth, as promised. The experience was only marginally less uncomfortable than having Tracht’s fingers in his mouth. After that was done, they took samples of his blood.
“Did you want a full-body check up?” the doctor asked Tracht.
He shook his head. “No, we’ll wait to do that when we’re in space. We’ve got his station-side vitals from the debt-leasing center, and I think that’ll be good enough until we depart.” He gave Alex a look. “By the way, the contract specifically states no body modifications, but I would be willing to have your missing tooth replaced. It is, of course, up to you, and we would need to annotate the contract and inform the brokerage firm.”
“What’s that going to cost me?” Alex asked suspiciously. If there was one thing he’d learned in life, it was that there was no such thing as a free gift.
“Oh, we can add a single day to your contract, if that makes you feel better about it. But honestly, I simply prefer my... staff... to be healthy.” Tracht nodded at the doctor. “We could do it now, right, Dr. Singh?”
Singh hesitated, then shrugged. “Sure. No medical emergencies going on right now, and we’ve stocked up on prosthetic teeth. I’ll put it on your list of expenses.”
Alex warred with his gut instinct to refuse outright. He had absolutely no way of paying for a prosthetic on his own, and adding one day to his contract wouldn’t make a damned difference. Hell, he’d probably be coming out on top. And going along with this minor thing could make Tracht a bit more tractable.
In the end, it was the doctor’s obvious reluctance that got him to agree. She probably didn’t think he was worth it. Alex settled himself into the patient chair, and closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see her working.
Thankfully they did something to numb his mouth, because if he’d had to feel the tools he’d probably have panicked a bit. Once it was all over, he had to admit he liked the feeling of having a full set of teeth again.
Tracht seemed really pleased as well. That night he fucked Alex slowly, gently, and whispered cheesy words into his ear. Alex endured and didn’t say anything when Tracht finished off without bothering to bring Alex to orgasm.