“I need to go out and take care of a few business meetings,” Tracht announced on Alex’s third day.
Fucking finally. Between kissing Tracht’s boots and serving him coffee and following him around like a dog, Alex was getting a bit tired of the guy. He gave the room a quick once over once he was alone—no need to antagonize the guy by leaving a mess behind—then started browsing the ‘net on Tracht’s tablet.
He sent a quick message to his brother, and was gratified when he got a response fairly quickly. “Going to a party 2nite! W/ L & Perry. Miss u!”
A few more messages back and forth, and Alex deleted the entire exchange. He pulled up a few maps of the station and tried to orient himself on where the ship was docked and how to get around this area of town if need be. Finally, he loaded up some porn and jerked off. He’d had a serious case of blue balls for the past two days, and no way was he going to let Tracht leave him unsatisfied for yet another night.
It wasn’t the best orgasm or anything, but he was glad for it anyway.
When he’d recovered, Alex decided to scope out more of the ship on his own. He got dressed in the Tracht-approved tunic and leggings combo, grabbed the laundry hamper, and then made his way down the elevator.
The ship was laid out in sections by utility. The lowest levels held ship operations and the cargo hold. Alex wasn’t going to bother going down there. He didn’t care about the engine or the cargo. The main level held more storage in the back, but the front part held the crew quarters, dining hall, laundry, lounge, gym, and the med bay.
He stopped by the laundry room first. One crew member was in there, some redheaded chick with just a bit too much bulk for Alex’s liking.
“Not with the Captain?” she asked, smiling at him.
“Nah. He’s busy. Gotta take care of this stuff for him though.”
He set all of Tracht’s stuff to wash. Maybe there was some rule about sorting clothes, but Alex wasn’t that keen on getting on his good side, so he just threw everything in at once. When he turned around, the chick was very obviously staring at his ass.
“Like what you see?” Alex joked, and he flexed his arm to show off his biceps.
Her grin widened. “Yeah. I’m looking forward to when the captain takes you to the gym.” She hefted her own laundry and waved lightly. “See you around.”
Her wording was a bit weird—Alex woulda been willing to go to the gym with her right then, or maybe just make out with her in the laundry room—but whatever. He checked how much time was on the washer, then wandered around some more.
The gym looked pretty sweet. It had a bunch of weight training machines, as well as treadmills, stationary bikes, free weights, and a punching bag. Alex rarely got to go to a real gym, because he and his brother couldn’t spare the cash for it.
Since he didn’t have enough time for a full workout, Alex left to check out the rest of the floor. He grabbed a protein bar from the dining hall, made sure to avoid the med bay—he had no interest in seeing Singh again, not even to thank her for the new tooth—and then ducked into the lounge.
One side had vending machines with snacks and alcoholic drinks. A sign next to them explained that every crew member was allowed one free alcoholic beverage per day, and the rest had to be paid for. Probably they would have to swipe their ident chips.
Some couches were around a giant TV screen, and the other end of the lounge held a round table, a pool table, and a dart board.
Currently there was one person in the lounge, some dude sitting on a couch and reading on his tablet.
“Where is everybody?” Alex asked.
The guy looked up, startled. “Sorry?”
Alex repeated his question, and the guy shrugged. “We’re docked. Bunch of people are visiting their families. Or gone shopping, or hitting up the bars. We don’t start loading until the day after tomorrow.”
“So the entire ship’s empty?”
“Nah. Always gotta have people on board. There’s guard duty, which pays overtime while we’re docked, and some general maintenance stuff. Anybody not from here stays on deck overnight, unless they really want to spend money on a hotel.” The guy narrowed his eyes at Alex. “Why you asking?”
Alex didn’t bother trying to look innocent, since his face couldn’t pull it off. “Just wondering. It’s kind of dead around here.”
“Yeah, it was nice and quiet until you showed up.”
Alex could take that hint. He flipped the guy off and went to wait on the laundry. If Alex had his way, he wouldn’t be interacting with the crew at all. Still, it was good to get a lay of the land and figure out how things worked around here.
===
Tracht returned a few hours later. He didn’t acknowledge that Alex had cleaned and done laundry; he just told Alex to get dressed. They walked around the ship and met with the crew on board. Alex got the feeling Tracht just wanted to show Alex off to everybody. They ran across the chick from the laundry room, who leered when Tracht said the word “bondservant.” Which was another thing: Tracht would not shut up about Alex being a bondservant. Like he didn’t give a shit that everybody knew he’d pretty much bought himself a temporary sex slave.
Whatever. Endure, endure.
Dinner, boot-kissing, undressing, really unsatisfying fuck, and finally, Tracht was asleep against Alex’s body, breathing deeply.
Alex twined their hands together briefly, felt Tracht’s grip tighten for a moment, and then slowly pulled his hand away. Natural. Like he cared about Tracht or something. He waited, but Tracht stayed asleep, snoring lightly on occasion.
Good. Alex carefully slipped out of the bed. He waited to see if Tracht would wake, but the man slept like the dead. He’d noticed that on the first night, when he hadn’t been able to sleep but Tracht hadn’t stirred from Alex’s tossing and turning.
He pulled on one of Tracht’s uniforms—a bit tight, but better than the tunic and tights he’d been wearing around the ship—and found a loose pair of sandals that sort of fit him. He kind of wished Tracht’s boots weren’t too small, because Alex would have gotten an extreme delight wearing those fucking things.
The ring he’d stolen off of Tracht’s finger went safely onto his own hand, and then he was off.
Out the door, down the elevator. The crew had slowly trickled in during the afternoon and evening, though at this late hour the halls were still fairly empty. Alex made sure to avoid everybody anyway. Once he was almost spotted, but he slipped into a nearby washroom and simply waited.
Finally, he was at the hatch. This one was tricky, because a guard was posted. It wasn’t anybody he’d met during the day, so Alex walked up as casually as he could and greeted him.
The guard frowned at him. “Who’re you? And why are you wearing the captain’s uniform?”
Shit. There was probably insignia somewhere marking this uniform different from the stuff everybody else was wearing. Whatever. Alex punched the guy in the face, feeling a satisfying rush at how the guy stumbled to the ground. Alex watched the guy try to get back to his feet, and then kicked him, this time making sure to wind him.
The guy was slurring some words, and his nose started bleeding. Not out cold yet, which left Alex with a bit of a dilemma. He opened the ship’s hatch, and while the guy was trying to orient himself, Alex pulled him through with him. He closed the gate behind them and pushed the guy until they were out of the boarding chute and on the station proper.
“Okay, buddy. I need you to not say anything for a few hours, huh?” Alex said to the guy. The guard was shaking his head, and his eyes blinked rapidly. Probably had a concussion or something. Alex would feel a little bad leaving him lying in an alley somewhere, but he had places to be. So he dumped the guy in the trash behind a dock restaurant and hoped the guy would stay alive for somebody to find. Using Tracht’s ring, he undid the lock on the bond collar around his neck and tossed it and the ring on top of the guard.
Alex ran. He needed a moment to orient himself, but once he figured out the layout of the neighborhood, it was quick to get to the intersection at Perry and Lauriate street. Two alleys down, and then he grinned widely when he saw his brother waiting for him.
Nick and Alex were identical twins. Or, they had been, at one point, before Alex got the scar and they couldn’t pull off the samesies look anymore. Alex in general carried more scars than Nick, because somehow Alex always seemed to be the one getting into trouble.
They stood by each other though, no matter what. And here Nick was, ready to whisk Alex off-station so they could be clear of the debt and start their lives anew. Tracht would be stuck paying, and Alex and Nick could continue to live their lives as they had.
“Alex! Fuck, I’m so glad to see you!” Nick hugged him tightly. “Hope it wasn’t too awful. That fucker didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
“Nah. He was pretty harmless, really. Mostly was a selfish lover, no wonder he had to resort to buying somebody.” Alex pulled his shirt collar down and showed Nick his bare neck. “Look, those collars are shit. Super easy to get rid of.”
“Told you so. It’s all based on the honor system. Most bondservants don’t even think of running.”
They both laughed, high on success. Fuck, most people were suckers. A lifetime’s worth of rent, all passed on to some schmuck who was too desperate to get laid.
They wandered through the back alleys, knowing they should keep quiet but too happy to see each other again to stop themselves from whispering like little kids. Alex told Nick about the ship, and how he’d conned a free tooth replacement out of Tracht. Nick filled Alex in on what he’d been up to the past week: making nice with the people they had owed money to, hanging with some acquaintances. Alex barely paid attention, not really caring about any of those people. They were getting off Cadmus. Finally!
He should have seen it coming though. Neither of them had been paying much attention, but really, they were being dumbasses not to have at least checked before they turned any corners.
Tracht, standing right in front of them, three station security guards aiming their weapons at Alex and Nick.