Sarah mumbled as she traveled through the murky waters of semi-consciousness. She had been dreaming about her parents again, only this time she was imagining the moment they heard the news that her shuttle never arrived on Earth. The dream became a nightmare as her mother broke down and started screaming at the officers who had relayed the news, and her father fell into a fiery coughing fit.

“Dad, no, it’s okay, I’m okay,” she muttered. “Everything will be okay.”

A sharp pinch in Sarah’s left arm brought her fully back to the waking world. Her eyes flew open just in time to see a figure standing over her, drawing her blood into a large syringe.

“Hey!” Sarah tried to sit up but realized that she had been bound to her bunk sometime in the night. “What are you doing? Stop that!” Looking down at the straps, she remembered how the Haraldie woman had ripped her shirt off the day before, and as the rest of yesterday’s events started coming back to her, Sarah found it difficult to breath.

The man turned around, allowing the light to illuminate his person. With both confusion and relief, Sarah realized he was human.

“I’m very sorry, Ms. Dawson, I tried to wake you before I put the needle in, but you must have been enjoying your dream too much.” The man smiled and grabbed a glass culture tube from the pocket of his lab coat.

“I—how—how did you know my name?” There were a lot of more pressing questions Sarah wished to ask, but she was having trouble finding the words, so she started with the simplest.

“I made Jent hand over your wallet. All the money’s gone, as is to be expected, but I found your ID. I wanted to see if you had any medical cards, in case you were allergic to something.”

“Who are you?”

“Dr. Nickleby, but you can call me Nickle, everyone else does. It’s just another one of the many ways this crew tries to demean me on a daily basis. But they won’t break me, no sir, they won’t break me.” The doctor seemed to be speaking more to himself than to Sarah. He pushed her blood from the syringe into the culture tube and gave the glass vile a little ceremonial swirl.

“But you’re human. Why are you working with a crew like this? Don’t you know what they do to humans?”

“I know all too well what they do to us. I’m the one that has to patch all their victims up after the fact.”

“So then why—”

“My dear, do you really think I have a choice in the matter?” He put her blood back into his pocket and pulled the stethoscope from his neck. “May I?” He motioned to her with the stethoscope.

“Do you really think I have a choice in this matter?” Sarah said bitterly. The doctor did not move any closer, rather he waited to get her true consent. “Yes, go ahead.”

The doctor was careful not to touch her with his hands, only the stethoscope. Sarah appreciated his respectful approach and was intensely happy to see a kind face, but that didn’t stop her from continuing her line of questioning.

“But you do have a choice. I mean, it’s not a great one, but if you refused to work for them, refused to do their bidding—”

“They would kill me. And a lot of innocent lives would be lost because there wasn’t a doctor on board to intervene. I don’t see how anyone truly wins in that situation.”

“I just don’t know how you can stand it.”

The doctor put his finger to his mouth, indicating he needed her to be quiet while he listened to her heartbeat. When he was done, he undid the straps keeping her in bed and retrieved a small notepad from another pocket. “Well, everything sounds fine. The captain said I should give you a once over, run a couple tests to make sure you didn’t carry with you some nasty Reeveral Port disease.”

Sarah rubbed her arms where the straps had been placed and only then realized her hands had been untied. “So,” she asked as Nickle reached for the door, “what now?”

“Oh, well, I should have the test results back in a few hours and—”

“No, I mean, what do I do now?”

“Hmm,” Nickle turned around and rubbed the graying stubble on his chin, “let’s see here. You’re still technically a prisoner, but the boss announced this morning that you have free rein of the ship…something about you doing repairs? I’m not sure, I wasn’t really listening, I was too busy trying to get the damn caffie-drink maker running again.”

Sarah’s expression changed at the mention of caffie-drink. “Does that mean I can go get myself something to eat?”

Nickle frowned. “I don’t see why not.”

“Can you point me in the direction of the kitchen?”

“Better yet, I’ll take you myself. I’m already in need of my second cup of the black stuff.”

Nickle opened the door and motioned for Sarah to go through.

She hesitated. “Uh, well, you see…” Sarah looked down at her bare arms and midriff, her cheeks immediately reddening.

“Ah, yes, of course.” The doctor began to blush as well. “I don’t have an extra shirt on me, but you can wear this.” He took remaining personal items out of his pocket, pulled off his lab coat, and handed it to her.

The coat had no buttons, so Sarah had to take the belt from her jeans and use it to tie the coat closed. Unable to check how it looked in a mirror, Sarah just hoped it would stay closed. She had experienced enough unwanted attention for a lifetime yesterday, and she was not about to do anything that might “invite” more.

Sarah thanked the doctor and followed him out into the dark, humid hallway.

There was a soft knock at Grom’s door, followed by Jent announcing himself in an unusually quiet and timid tone.

“Come in,” Grom called. He sat up straighter in his chair and motioned for Jent to take the seat across from his. Grom’s chambers were not actually the largest the ship had to offer, but they did have the largest windows, which were the reason Grom chose them. He didn’t tell this to his crew, however. It would not do well to have them know he possessed even the slightest ounce of sentimentality, none the less, for them to know after a long day pillaging and commanding, he loved nothing more than to sit and watch the stars. Instead, when asked why he would not take the largest quarters, Grom made up some excuse about it being too close to the kitchen, noting how he detested the smell of caffie-drink.

“So,” Grom poured some water into two glasses as Jent took a seat, “you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, er, um.” Jent cleared his throat awkwardly and reached for his glass. “Well, first, I wanted to apologize, again, for the whole…shuttle times mix up. I sent a message saying the flight plans were adjusted due to the upcoming holiday, but Reema said she didn’t receive it until you guys were past the shuttle’s designated flight path. Hence you having to turn around.”

“I believe you tried everything you could.”

“I did, sir, truly. And I promise, the backtracking will be worth it. When we sell these people, it will more than pay for our lost time.”

“I hope you’re right. How are the prisoners?”

“We managed to salvage two of the critically injured passengers. Since the ship was headed towards Earth, it seems the whole lot of them was human. The other three died.”

“What does that give us total?”

“Four, sir, well, five if you count your uh—” Jent stopped himself short and took a sip of his water.

“Five total,” Grom affirmed.

“Right, that’s actually the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. You see, the crew has been talking. We noticed that you let Sarah—"

“Sarah?”

“That’s the human’s name, sir. The ugly one that you took from Reema last night. I was looking through her wallet and saw her ID.”

“Hmm. Sarah.” Grom let the name roll off his tongue like he was singing a song. “I’ve never heard a name like that before.”

“It’s a very common human name. Anyway, like I was saying, the crew was talking about how you let her sleep in the extra chambers last night?”

“That is correct.”

“And your announcement this morning, about her being the new maintenance person—”

“On a trial basis. I said she would be helping out on a trial basis. At least until we can get this decrepit ship in working condition again.”

“Right, that part I understand—we understand. But what I—we’re confused about is, well, if you’re not going to have her, why are the rest of us not allowed to touch her? I mean, Nickle is a working slave, and we’re allowed to do whatever we want with him…not that anyone would ever want to, the guy’s ancient and wrinkly like a—”

“Jent! Is there a point to all this?”

“Yes. There is. My point is I want her. Not for keepsies, but just for a few goes. You see, me and the human have a history.”

At the announcement that Jent and Sarah had some connection, Grom felt a hot jab of jealousy. “What kind of history?”

“Nothing serious, let’s just say, we know each other.” Jent put emphasis on the word “know,” and therefore validated all of Grom’s most unsavory assumptions.

“I see.” Grom took a sip from his water, buying time while he figured out what to say. Jent took this opportunity to further his case.

“Unless you want her sir, because, if you’ve grown fond of her—”

Grom choked on his water. “Grown fond? No, absolutely not. I couldn’t care less about that pathetic, brown creature.”

“Perfect! Then there should be no issue.”

“Well, that’s not entirely true. Not that I spent much time with her, but she doesn’t seem like the type of girl who would be…willing.”

Jent narrowed his eyes in suspicious confusion. “Willing? Since when has that ever been an issue? You yourself have taken plenty of unwilling females.”

“No, no, of course. It’s only, if you hurt her too much, she may not work as well. On the ship, I mean. She may stop fixing things out of spite. Or worse, she might purposefully damage the ship. No, it will not do. I’m sorry Jent, but for now she has proven to be quite useful and I do not want to jeopardize that. Understand?”

Jent’s eyes flashed with anger, and Grom could see the side of his mouth curling as he tried to hold back his fury.

“Sir, this is not how things are done—”

“This is my ship, Jent.” Grom’s voice raised and he stood up, his immense size serving to emphasize his authority. “I decide how things are done. Now you’ve heard what I have to say. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to debark at the next dock.”

“Sir, I mean no disrespect, but I can’t help but feel as if your judgement may be clouded—”

“I could have left you behind,” The captain stated matter-of-factly. “That’s what the crew wanted me to do. Once we realized how far off course the shuttle was, the crew voted to leave you behind.” Jent stared at Grom in shocked silence. “You would have been stuck inside the shuttle’s storage compartment until the thing landed on Earth, upon which moment you would have been arrested if not executed immediately. Had it not been for me, you would likely be dead now. Was my judgment clouded then? When I made the decision to go back for you?”

“No, I cannot express to you my gratitude—”

“I don’t want your gratitude. I want your respect. In fact, I demand your respect. I went back for you because you’ve been nothing but loyal the ten years you’ve worked for me, but don’t you think for one second that our history together in any way impacts the power dynamics here. I am the captain, and you are my subordinate. If you ever dare to question my judgement again, I will do far worse than leave you behind. Got it?”

The Selachi remained silent, but his eyes were relaying all of his unspoken rage and humiliation. With a curt nod and a quick bow, the captain’s servant took his leave.