4 E-Cycles

[Bindu1000]

Epilogue

Jarett – just initiated Captain in Vizior Pran’s new fleet was at loss to handle the situation he found himself in. He had faced and fought hand to hand combats with Rogue traders, argued himself out of dangerous situations in some of the roughest bars in the known universe and yet was unable to find a single thing to say to the grave child who stood in front of him with an out-stretched plate of food. Real food, grown on fertile soil and containing all the richness of flavour that the Fynthesizers could never duplicate even for the richest spacers.

“The others eat inside. I have bought your share to you” she said quietly, still holding the place to him

She was beautiful. Rich, dark red hair tamed in a long plait that reached below her waist from which curls escaped and formed a halo around her head, which in the morning sunlight gleamed like fire. Her face was in the shade and her eyes not too clearly visible, but they looked a deep green, like the trees that grew on this plant-rich planet. He skin was not spacer fair, but glowed a sun-kissed golden brown – obviously she led an active life; another privilege of a Planethum. From her height and figure – Jarett figured she must have been around 14 e-cycles; he frowned, old enough to know better

He stood up from where he had been resting and enjoying the nature surrounding him and bowed low “Forgive me, mistress, but I am born spacer and cannot partake of grown food”

She blinked and nodded absently “This is known, but please, it is for you”.

Her hand must have been aching with the weight, because she then brought up her other hand to support the one holding the plate. When he made no move to take the food, she frowned, shifted on her feet and then took a step forward. The plate of food was now less than a foot away from him and the rich aroma of the fresh food, reached him, causing his stomach to clench and complain. Another thing the fynthesizers could not fully duplicate but human stomachs and gastric juices– spacer or planethum, did not forget.

When she realized she was losing the battle, she lowered her hand and looked at the food like it was a huge mathematical problem she had to solve. She was still frowning and Jarett had felt like a heel for making that beautiful face look so solemn

“Forgive me” he repeated “but it is not permitted for a spacer to eat planet grown food" He used formal speech, to cover up his awkwardness.

She bit her lip and cocked her head on a side and looked at him thoughtfully. “To eat off the planet of your own, yes, not permitted” (So she was using formal speech as well!) “But to share of one’s ration, is accepted and expected. This is mine which I share with you” She held up the plate once more and smiled

The smile hit Jarett like a 10 dit punch. It radiated clean, fresh sunshine and her cheeks dimpled with sweetness.

“Forgive me, for not mentioning this before. I thought you knew” When he still did not make a move, her smile faltered and her eyes started to shine with something that looked suspiciously like tears.

That was more than enough to galvanise Jarett into action. He dropped onto one knee, bowed and took the plate so fast, it took her a bit by surprised and she almost lost her balance but she recovered and her smile shone with its initial brilliance. Now that he was kneeling less than 2 feet away from her, he noticed her eyes were the deep forest green he had envisioned before and her smile reached well into their depths. She was genuinely overjoyed to share her food with him

“I thank you my lady” he whispered, almost driven to tears himself over her simple kindness. “My name is Jarett – Captain of Loqa – a member of Vizior Pran’s fleet. I will eat only if you truly share this with me.”

She looked at him thoughtfully, nodded again and promptly sat on the ground where he has been resting, under the shade of some majestic tree, of which name and species he had no idea.

“My name is Kathara and I will accept your terms” She sounded grave but when he - startled by her tone, looked up, saw her eyes were dancing with humour.

The plate was large and piled high with fried meat, wrapped in some form of batter and covered by a creamy sauce. It vied for space with fresh steamed vegetables and after he joined her on the ground, she tugged a small carry bag off her shoulder, out of which she pulled out a bottle of a golden coloured drink which was obviously some juice along with a covered container of freshly cut fruit.

They both used their fingers to eat and while she picked slightly only at the vegetables, he tried hard to curtail his need to grab the meat and stuff it into his mouth. It was all delicious. All too soon it was over and without thinking; he licked his fingers, not wanting to miss even a drop. He finished and looked to see her grinning. He flushed in embarrassment. His skin, constantly in the shadows of his ship was fair and his embarrassment clearly visible. It seemed to amuse her more and she giggled. She was not laughing at him, but inviting him to laugh with her and he did, grinning at his own greed.

She handed him the bottle and as he opened the bottle, he heard her say
“What does Vizior Pran wish to discuss with my father? I do not like him”

It was a good thing Jarett had not drunk any of the juice, because he choked anyway, and with eyes steaming, stared at her. “You are the Conts daughter?” he asked incredulous. She nodded absently, staring into the distance.

“My lady, I had no idea. Forgive me for my disrespect, it was unintended”
She turned to him and frowned.

“What on earth are you rambling about?” Okay, so the formal speech was gone and instead she lapsed into common dialect, albeit with a cultured accent. “What disrespect? My father approved of me coming out here to share my food. He said you had sad eyes. We do not break the Megadoom laws even though my father is the Cont of this part of the galaxy, but we are always taught to be grateful of the twist of fate that gave us more than others and to share where we can”

She must be older than the 14 e-cycles he initially thought she was, Jarett reflected as he looked at her.

She saw his appraising look and smiled. “I am almost 16 e-cycles and have been thought well. Ok, lets forget about Vizior Tran, my father’s dealings and who I am and instead - tell me stories of the other worlds and your adventures. I am grateful to have a planet home but do know, that as the Conts daughter, I may never get to see the mountains of another world. I do not resent this” she frowned slightly as if trying to convince herself “but I would still like to hear of the wonders”

“First of all” Jarett smiled at her “the universe is not as wondrous a place as we envisioned it to be and I am only 26 e-cycles myself so don’t have many adventures to talk off, but will share what I know”

And there, under the shade of a majestic tree, with the morning sun climbing high in the azure blue sky and violet, snow capped mountains in a distance, Jarett spent a golden afternoon that he would never forget for the rest of his life …..

[Bindu1000]

CHAPTER 1
4 Earth Cycles later .....

The distinctive odor that drifted from the deeper reaches of the fair was getting stronger as Jarett worked his way into its shadows and wasn’t the only thing that distinguished it from the other areas. It was like walking through a museum which chronicled the changes in a society. Everything changed, the colours, the noise, the clothes, the people – it transformed.

The bright colours became muted and then darker, until only browns, grays and black remained. The laughter died, the voices quieted down and voluble bargaining disappeared, to be replaced with hushed, specific conversations. The clothing and people changed from the hosh-posh of the other areas of the market to more somber suits that blended in with the background, making identification harder and disappearances easier. Of course there was no mistaking this for the poorer or shabbier part, if anything the feel and look of affluence and wealth increased the deeper he walked, making him the odd one out. The only thing that hinted of its real business was the smell. Permeating everything, it was a cloying smell – like the smell of expensive perfumes, trying to hide the reek of human suffering and despair.

The area looked no different to an up market residential area on one of the trading planets. The path way was dirt, but had with smooth ceramic stepping stones placed in two parallel lines, with the trading tents on either side. The shops themselves were ‘no frills’ basic structures, which probably could have been dismantled in under an hour. Opaque curtains in rich, dark brocades or subdued tapestries, hung in the doorways – keeping the large interiors well hidden from prying eyes. It entire area was spotlessly clean and with the weak sun light streaming in between the fluttering flags on top of each tent, Jarett could never have told he was walking through one of the most decadent parts of the Inter-stellar market on Spyros. Long robed spacers and planethums strode along the pathway; not looking around or “shopping”, they knew what the wanted, where they could find it and walked with a purpose. Jarett however, felt a sense of uneasiness creep over his body and ran his fingers over the knife tucked in his belt for reassurance. He had never been in a place like this before and had always steered clear of anything to do with human trafficking, until circumstances had forced him to look for his requirements here. Of course his knife was not needed. Any weapon larger than a 6” bladed knife was confiscated at the entrance of the main gates. Not that anyone would dream of starting even an argument here. The area was too well guarded and protected by some of the most formidable clans of the under-world and any violence that could disrupt business would be dealt with swiftly and surely, whilst the Market authorities looked away. You could see them, drifting or lounging around, keeping an eye out for even the slightest sign of trouble.

All he needed was a young apprentice. Nothing fancy, didn’t even need to be too intelligent, just someone who could help to count the boxes, close the doors and scream blue murder the moment they saw the slightest sign of danger. Not too much to ask for, Jarett thought gloomily, but so damn hard to find. Everything in here advertised the exotic – for tastes that ran from the downright silly to the unbelievably cruel and seemed to always revolve around satisfying desires of a sexual nature.

“Well, maybe I should have just gone to the Trade Houses and gotten an apprentice the legal way” he muttered under his breath and then sighed gloomily. The last run in he had had with the Ship Repairers Trade House, had not gone too well - well the guy had done a shoddy bit of work, but had not been too happy when Garrett had refused to pay him and reported him to the authorities. Unfortunately all the Trade Houses were also run by under-world clans and now that the word had gone around, he could barely get anyone to even help with the basic labour and had to rely on the Outworkers who hung around. The problem was that they were generally high on some drug or the other or would try and rob him at the first opportunity.

He stopped in front of a gray and white yawning, with the inane name “Stripy’s” on the board. Only a private owner would have an independent, silly name like that and exactly what he was looking for. The owner would probably go bankrupt soon; unable to compete with the clans, but for now, would serve his purpose well.

“Welcome Master” the proprietor bowed. In spite of the human misery behind the walls around him and the scary conditions Jarett found himself in, the man in front of him made him smile incredulously. The stories had it all wrong – if you had met him somewhere else, nothing would have made you guess the man worked in the flesh trade. He was older and slightly built. He had shoulder length gray hair and shaggy gray eye-brows and soft, faded blue eyes that twinkled and looked for all the world like your kindly old uncle who would bring you candy on the feast days. He was clothed in a soft blue robe and his only form of jewelry was a thin silver chain from which his BLink hung.

Jarett almost bowed back, caught himself in time and nodded instead. He followed the man into his shop and stepped into an airy, bright area with comfortable, throw cushions scatted over soft, downy looking mats. The cushions and mats were made in bright colours of orange, yellow, red and brown and the central opening on the ceiling of the tent, let the sun stream through, making the place look like a garden arranged for a children’s party. Since rain was unheard of on Spyros, there was no danger in having the middle open to the elements. Jarett sat himself quietly and waited. There were customs to be followed, before one could speak business.

A beautiful girl, with a slender figure and black, shiny, coiffed hair and creamy gold skin (definitely all human), stepped out with a tray of steaming chai and fyntho-biscuits. She stood in front of him with her eyes downcast while “Stripy” as Jarett mentally called the proprietor, swept aside her red silk robe and bared her naked body.

“She is well versed in the field of pleasure” Stripy smiled, still looking like he was offering you a box of candy.

[Bindu1000]

Jarett fought the rise of bile in his throat and smiled calmly “Thank you, but I have already been satisfied at a previous appointment – though the girl does tempt me sorely” He kept to formal dialect and his well thought out speech killed two birds with one stone – it both complimented the girl in the event a deal was not struck, so that she would not be punished for not softening him (the buyer) up, and clinching a good deal, but it also marked him as one who has money to spend having already spent time in previous establishments. “But I will accept the refreshments – for it has been a busy and tiring day” Sheer nonsense, he had come here directly and already was itching to rush back to his ship and waste precious water having a very long, hot bath.

This relaxed the merchant and he motioned the girl forward. Since her hands were full, she could not fasten her robe and he could see from her figure that she was barely out of puberty. However, when she raised her eyes to him, he found they had a 100 years of pain in them. ‘Calm down, J old man’ he forced himself to breathe slowly, ‘you cant change the universe’. The Merchant did not offer identification, nor did Jarrett volunteer anything about himself. Any names given would have been fictional and there was an un-named law that prevented those, conducting underworld business, not lie to each other unless definitely necessary.

They chattered about mundane things and when the chai had been forced down his throat, and the dishes cleared he held up his fore-finger and thumb joined together in an ‘O’ to signal business.

“I am looking for a cabin boy” he said and then when he saw the surprise Stipy’s face, quickly added “or girl. Nothing fancy, but someone to do all the odd jobs on a ship”

The old man bowed and then hesitated before rising “Would you prefer a boy, then” he asked, eyes veiled. Jarrett knew exactly what was going through the old man’s mind. If he said yes, then the man would have been mortified that he had misjudged Jarrett’s sexual leanings and had offered him a girl for pleasure. The men and women who ran the flesh trade were well trained and experienced to be able to judge a person the moment they walked into their shop and provide the exact form of entertainment. They were almost always correct in their guess and for the old man to have failed in guessing such a simple inclination would have been just too much to take and possibly ruin his reputation should it become open knowledge.

Jarrett was seriously tempted to say yes, just to take a small measure of revenge, but changed his mind at the last moment. He just wanted this over and done with fast.

“No – either one would be okay but of course, my preference is for a male as his responsibility will be physical labour” Again – sheer nonsense, as there was no way he was going to use slave labour. He wanted to give one of the poor, lost souls a chance for a decent life. At least they would get to sleep properly, enough to eat, clean clothes to wear and a chance to earn some money and he would get someone to help out on his trade runs.

Relief was evident in the merchant’s eyes. “Would you like me to bring them out to you, or will you come inspect my suites?” He bowed again.

Jarrett had planned to let the merchant bring the workers to him, but suddenly, and old, familiar feeling rushed through his body. His stomach spasmed and shivered and a force pushed at the back of his brain - “Go”. He was rooted to his seat in shock. It has been years since he had had this reaction and he felt his knees literally grow weak in fear – fear of what he would find if he were to go with the man and fear that something he thought long dead, had only been sleeping. Whatever it was – his senses were in over-drive, trying to make up for lost time. He was glad he was seated!!!

Well – he was not known as one of the more notorious rogue traders in the galaxy for nothing (technically he was hardly known at all, but those who knew him feared him … sort of) so he pushed down his fears and stood up. To his credit, the action was smooth and elegant and did not in anyway show that his legs were seriously considering to change their texture to that of jelly and his stomach was threatening to return up the chai he had just imbibed. He nodded to the old man and waited to be led to the ‘suites’

As soon as the doors swung open heavy drapes that led to the inner section, the true nature of the “Personal” part of the inter-galactic fairs hit Jarrett straight in the face.

The suites were non other than animal cages (although actually he had seen animals kept in better cages) The area was totally enclosed with heavy fabric the only lighting came from battery powered lamps, which glaring bright light only exposed the human misery more fully. The cages lined up on either side of a central walkway and in addition to the humans (and the occasional cross breed) contained only the bare essentials. Sleeping pads, no pillows and a drain at the far end which by means of automatic sensors and a suction devise, carried the waste away to a central pit, somewhere buried deep in the market. They were however clean and the walls and even the bars padded with a gelatinous substance. This was to prevent the slaves inside from hurting themselves as any marks would cause them to lose value. So was the fact that they were all kept naked – it was to prevent them from using articles of clothing to hurt themselves. The cages nearer the entrance had girls and boys in the late teens to mid twenties – the legal ones. They looked like they had been around the stars a couple of times and stood up for inspection as he walked by. He caught the eyes of the first few and then made it a point to studiously avoid doing it for the rest. Their eyes were dead, blank, without any emotion. It made his nausea increase.

His stomach spasmed again, prompting him to keep walking past the first lot of displays – until he was grabbed by an iron arm and spun around to face good old Stripy. “I need references before you go over there” he was told patiently. The faded blue eyes were now feral and Jarrett had no doubt he stood with one foot in his grave and the other on a cake of soap.

He calmly picked the deceptively frail looking hand off his arm and brushed off an imaginary piece of dirt. He narrowed his eyes and stiffened his spine and knew that his appearance had also changed. He was rewarded by the old man widening his eyes and backing off slightly. But not too far – he was not letting go without a fight as he obviously had too much invested.

[Bindu1000]

Jarrett sighed and pulled out his I tag and watched as the Merchant scanned it. It was a stroke of luck that after he left working for Vizior Pran’s ‘Army’ (as he now knew it to be) his Identity tag had not been cancelled. Since those days 4 years ago when he had gone to work for Pran with rosy hued glasses and starry eyed dreams, Pran had proved to the world what a bastard he really was and anyone working for him was automatically painted with the same brush. There was no better reference to the steamier inhabitants in the known galaxy

‘Stripy’ grunted, handed back the tag and then led the way deeper into the corridor. Now amongst the teenage inhabitants, a mixture of younger and more desperate looking victims lay. They crouched in corners trying to shield their private parts and their cleanliness only highlighted the bruises they probably received when being caught. They always fought and they always lost and ended up here – in places where they could be sold to people looking for depraved entertainment

“Over here!” His voice in his brain shrieked and he looked to the one before the last cage on the right hand side. He started to walk over to it and once again was detained, though the hand was not so rough this time. “That one only came in yesterday, she has not been cleaned or trained” came the soft, cultured voice. The uncle with the candy had returned. Jarrett once more released the fingers holding him back and continued to the cage.

It was a girl somewhere between 16 – 18 e-cycles (it was very hard to tell) definitely all human and sat pressed against the side wall. She was filthy and bruised and sat huddled, with dark matted falling like a curtain in front of her face. Something inside of him started jumping up and down and shrieking gibberish and he sighed and for a second rested his weary head against the bars. There was no doubt at all in his mind what he was going to do. He also had no doubt at all, this was going to cost a lot more than he planned and would probably not accomplish his purpose in the slightest. He remembered why he had always hated his psychic sense as a child.

“How much?”

The candy disappeared; the uncle disappeared and instead stood a whip-like business man with credit signs all over his face

“She is not for sale” was the immediate answer. Jarrett sighed; this was to be expected.

“Yes she is and I will take her” he said calmly while the part of him that still listened to common sense started lecturing him on whether he has lost all intelligence. “How much?”

“Well” there was a pregnant pause followed by a deep sigh, “since you do work for Commander Pran, I will make an exception. 10,000 megas”

He had expected a higher figure than he planned, but this was way, way too much and floored him completely. The one good thing about hearing such an outlandish price, was that the part inside of him that was jumping up and down and screeching at him to rescue the girl was temporary silenced, gave him a little peace to think.

But then she lifted a trembling hand and brushed the hair out of her eyes.

Eyes … eyes the colour of deep, forest green …”help me please … no more… I want to go home …please”

If the old man had picked Jarrett up, thrown him on the floor and stomped him to death, he would not have raised a finger. His body was frozen in shock and his stomach clenched so hard, he thought he would pass out with pain. As it is, he had to concentrate hard to make ensure the telling beads of sweat would not ooze out of his pores.

“Tara” he mentally whispered in horror. This is what his sixth sense had been trying to tell him. No recognition lit in her eyes, now lifeless and dull. She had not been calling to him in particular, but for some reason, he had heard her pain and fear. He shook his head to clear it and gave himself an invisible kick, square on his butt

“Look” he managed a lazy grin “She is not going to be ready for at least another 30 sun-downs, just to get the wounds to heal and the scars to fade … well, mostly fade. Then another 3 – 6 months just to train her and even then there is no guarantee how she will turn out. 1000 megas” he counter offered. He had brought 1000 megas to buy an apprentice with an additional 500 so he had no choice but to make this happen within his paltry 1500 megas.

“No” there was silence as the old man looked up and smiled slightly, but did not come up with a counter amount.

This was not a good sign. Jarrett felt frustration pour over him and he wanted to grab the man and bash his head against the floor till he was unconscious, then the pick up the girl and carry her to safety. Instead he leant against the bars of the cage and started to clean his nails. The silence carried on for sometime and just when he thought he would explode, the merchant countered

“8,000 megas”

Jarrett kept cleaning, but felt the beast inside settle a bit. Uncle was ready to negotiate. Again the silence stretched and then the old man bowed and politely indicated the pathway back.

[Bindu1000]

“It is obvious we cannot agree, so maybe you can find what you are looking for elsewhere”

Jarrett barely controlled his jaw from dropping down and hitting the floor. What was so special about the girl that a merchant was actually asking a prospective buyer to leave? They could not possibly know she was the daughter of the Cont of Paradiso or her selling price would have started around 100,000 megas. Matter of fact she would not even be held here. He decided there was only one way to play this game.

With a mouth full of sawdust and a stomach in nervous spasms, he calmly he looked up “I want her and will not leave without her. Give me a price that is right for a specimen in her state and not some crazy price you are fully aware you will not get.”

“She is a virgin”

Another blow of shock – something he had not even considered. His stomach was really beginning to hurt and Jarrett knew that he had to conclude the deal fast or he would not be standing for long. His acting skills were now stretched mighty thin. He raised an eyebrow

“And how many would want to take that?” he inquired coolly, nodding in the girl’s direction. “What about the cost of meds, nutrition, training and discipline? That should come to around 4000 megas easily”

“Yes, but then I could sell her for about 20,000 megas” The soft voice and gentle manners were really beginning to grate on Jarrett’s nerves. He did the only next best thing he could. It was the only thing left to do. He straightened up from where he was leaning against the bars and let the anger and pain seep out till all he felt was a bone deep cold settle over him. His eyes would change colour and his body would undergo subtle changes that could not be identified in words but would strike terror in almost anyone’s heart. It was a trait Jarett had been born with and had no idea how he came about. The old man was obviously not just ‘anyone’ and made of stronger stuff and kept staring back until Jarrett felt the change complete. He made a sound like a growl, deep in his throat and showed his teeth. That seemed to do the trick and finally the man reacted. He pulled in a swift breath and stepped back slightly. “5000 megas and nothing less” The voice was a bit higher pitched now and still Jarett stared.

“5000 megas or you leave or I kill you where you stand”. It took some time for the words to sink into the haze covering his mind and Jarrett looked down to see a slim Farar blade touching his chest. So much for the ‘No Weapons’ policy! This close, the weapon would be fatal. A smell of burnt cloth wafted up as his jacket burnt with the slight touch.

“500 megas for ruining my jacket and lets close the deal at 4500” Jarrett gave a smile that looked like a Kinter cat before its jaws closed on its dinner’s neck.

“Done” the answer came so fast, Jarrett was a bit thrown. ‘Damn, should have held out a bit more’ he thought as he forced himself to change back to normal. As his body warmed up he realized that the old man was looking … old! He had obviously been scared and if Jarrett had been more aware, could have brought the price down further. But it was the trade he made when he changed, he became a killing machine with his motor functions taking over from the rational, thinking parts

With his sanity slowly returning, another thought hit him with an ‘oomphf’. Where the hell was he going to come up with the additional 3000 megas? He resisted the urge to sigh and thump himself on the head. He would have to use up the credit he had collected for the engine over-haul, without which he was not too sure how much longer his ship would survive.

He turned and glared at the girl who had not moved an inch, but sat there staring with unblinking green eyes. Looking at her he could not think coherently thoughts but sunlight and trees and warm, spicy food flicked through his mind as if she was forcing her mind to think of home so hard, it was projection into him and with that he felt his heart break and had to stop himself from acting impulsively and reaching out to her.

The bars of the cage were moved and Stripy stepped in and snapped v-collar around her neck. She did not flinch or move but kept her eyes focused on Jarrett, almost like she was looking into his soul Jarrett forced himself to concentrate on his breathing and not snap the neck of the kindly looking old gentleman tugging her up.

She rose awkwardly and when he took the leash attached to the collar in his hand, followed his direction. He handed over his credit disk and once the amount had been entered into the Blink around the old man’s neck, pressed his finger into the little hollow on it. The tiny spike embedded in the Blink speared his finger and started to process the DNA in the blood. When it beeped quietly, the merchant handed over a strip of metal which controlled the collar.

Jarrett waited until he was out side the corridor, before taking off his jacket and handing it to Tara. She had definitely grown in the 4 e-cycles since he had last seen her and stood almost as tall as him. He could not help but notice her that she had definitely filled out in all the right places, although she also looked like she had not had a decent meal for sometime. Almost as soon as he noticed her figure, he felt like a wretched sicko for looking. She was still looking at his coat un-comprehendingly and then with trembling hands took it and slipped it on. The hem barely reached her thighs and Jarrett cursed himself for not bringing a cloak. He has forgotten the barbaric customer of keeping the slaves naked. It not only showed the buyer what he was getting for his money, but it also prevented the slave from escaping on route to their ultimate destination. Most owners kept their slaves permanently naked even in public – if they were let out at all. His insides clenched at the thought that he could not remove the collar and the pain it would inflict on the long walk back to the base. Not only was it legally required, but it prevented her from escaping which he knew without a shadow of a doubt she would do, given the slightest chance. If she escaped, she would be killed and he was not going to let that happen.

“We need to move fast” he said quietly into her ear. “I do not wish to cause you pain, so please stay 2 feet behind me at all times – no closer, no further or the collar will send a jolt of electricity through your nerves and the closer you come to me or the further you pull away, the more painful it can get” He paused and putting his finger under her chin, turned her face towards him. “Please nod if you understand” His voice dropped lower and he repeated for her hearing only “I don’t want to hurt you … please”. The last part was a plea though he made himself scowl like his was threatening her. He could not think he could have borne it if she tried to escape and he had to cause her any further pain.

Green eyes stared into his without blinking and then she slowly nodded, wincing as her chin touched his finger. She had a black bruise on her jaw and his slightest touch had hurt. Jarrett sucked in his breath and closed his eyes and prayed that this last bit of journey would be over soon. He nodded to her and walked out into the sunshine, pausing when she stumbled and the collar gave her a jolt to remind her of its presence.

Jarrett almost lost his nerve and ripped the offending collar off her neck, but managed to control himself in time.

She looked at him again and nodded, unconsciously apologizing and showing that she was ready to go.

It was the longest 1 hour of his entire life, the walk from slaver’s market to his ship and the man who had faced battle ships and alien terrors, prayed that he will never again have to face something like this again.

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 2

Tara was pathetically glad when they came to the ship which obviously belonged to the man who had bought her life, for a meager 4500 megas. She did not think she could have managed to walk another step, maintaining that exact distance. He had been very careful to do all he could do to help, but obviously there were all those unavoidable instances when she would trip or he would pause in the crowd and the current would zap her already raw nerves till she wanted to scream and run, forcing the collar to overload and end her worthless existence. The atmosphere was thin and it was hard to breathe. The scenary was an unrelenting reddish brown – rock and sand wherever she looked and the pathways mostly dirt which made walking painful. This had once been a moon orbiting an un-inhabitable gas giant with barely any breathable air, which had been converted into a market base by one of the rich conglomerates via the new “Planet-maker” technology. Due to not having rain and wind, there was hardly any dust raised by the people walking about and definitely no mud. There were also strangely – no vehicles of any sort traveling on the surface and part of her awaking brain, wondered why.

She looked up at the monstrous structure looming in front of her and realized this was not a shuttle which would take them to the main ship, but it was the ship itself, small enough to land planet-side. It was brown and gray and mottled with bits and pieces of metal put together and looked ancient. Even though she had believe she had cried all the tears she had inside of her, she felt more brim over as she looked at ship that was going to be her home for the rest of her life. Its deplorable condition seemed to identify perfectly with everything her life had become.

She glanced at the man beside her. He was beaming as he looked at the piece of scrap. “This is Wrath” he grinned proudly and turned to her. When he saw her brimming eyes, his smile faltered and he shifted from leg to leg, not seeming to know what to say. Tara saw that he was not sure why she was crying, and suddenly it was important that he knew it was nothing he did. ‘Would he punish her?’ She could not explain the feeling, so she shook her head and whispered “I am just glad to have reached my destination”.

His face changed first to what looked like relief when she spoke and then some other emotion, while he muttered under his breath and closed his eyes for a moment. He was standing in the shadow of the ship and she was not sure what he was thinking. He gently guided her up the steps into the waiting lift and in seconds they walked through the main doors.

“Lock on command” he muttered and the doors slide shut with a noisy screech. He winced at the noise and muttered something about fixing a lot of stuff.

Tara took a look around her new prison. It was very different from the outside. Oh there was no mistaking her new owner was not rich, everything was obviously put together from junk sales, but it had a feeling of comfort and warmth and even as she stood there shivering in her scant covering, warm air began to swirl around her, taking off the chill she had thought would never leave. The carpet was a faded maroon – but at least there was a carpet and it was clean, she did not think her poor bleeding feet could have survived in one of the T’Aron ships where comfort was not a priority. The consoles were scratched, but lovingly polished and the two pilot seats had two brightly coloured rugs thrown over them – most probably to cover the stuffing that was undoubtedly coming out of the tears they must have had. Amazingly, there were a faded, but beautiful tapestry hanging on the wall on the far end, which looked so much like Paradisio that it caused her breath to get caught in her throat.

Then she felt his hands, extremely gentle, moving her to face him again and for a moment she cringed. ‘This is it’ she thought, closed her eyes and tried to stop the panic coursing through her veins. She wanted to stop shaking, as she did not want to anger him, but she could barely manage to stop her mind from freaking out completely. However, his hands only moved her filth encrusted hair aside and started to unlock the collar. His mouth was a few inches away from her ear and she felt his warm breath on her cheek. Strangely, it wasn’t unpleasant. The reasonable part of her brain was whispering that if she was going to be a sex slave, she could have gotten worse. She has hoped he would have given her more time to heal and adapt, before he started to paw her but he must have been in deep space long if he desired her in the state she was in and all she could hope was he be gentle. She slowly forced herself to stop shivering and managed to bank her fear to manageable levels.

“I am going to take this collar off and then we are going to the infirmary, where I will treat your wounds and then you can clean yourself up. I am going to ask you to please not do anything to hurt yourself or me, I promise you, I will not do anything to hurt you.

His voice was hypnotically soft, even and sincere and Kathara opened her eyes.

She saw him clearly for the first time. Black straight hair, pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck with a leather thong, high cheek bones with long eyelashes that a woman would pay a pocketful of megas for. Skin kissed by some sun to a golden brown and yet smooth, with a shadow covering almost all of his lower jaw. A few strands of shorter hair had escaped from the tie and flopped over his eyes. Sensing her gaze, he turned and looked at her. Eyes the colour of storm clouds over Paradiso looked into hers and for a reason she did not understand, she could not breathe. He looked into her eyes for what seemed like eternity and then he muttered something (which was probably not repeatable in polite company) and looked away.

[Bindu1000]

The collar came away in his hand and Kathara felt a black chasm open at her feet into which she slowly began to fall. But instead of the hitting the ground, strong hands reached her first and without hesitation, picked her up and carried her like a broken toy through a confusing series of doors and corridors, until she was placed gently on a stainless steel surface.

“Hang on, sweetheart” he muttered and the endearment brought Kathara back to consciousness better than any meds. She opened her eyes, raised herself on her elbows and looked around. This was obviously the infirmary and as shabby as the rest of the ship, but spotlessly clean and seemed decently well stocked. “I am going to treat your wounds, so hang on” he repeated. She heard a very faint hiss and the blackness of a sleep over came her.

When she awoke, the aches and pains had faded to the background and her new master had his back to her, making a lot of noise obviously cleaning and putting stuff away, although she could not see what he was doing. She raised her arms and noticed that almost every wound – even the slightest scratch was covered with something that looked like Gelskin. He must have used up almost his whole supply. The moment he heard her move, he turned and waited until she was fully awake, before helping her off the table. She had been covered with a medium sized sheet and she clumsily wrapped it around herself while her purposely looked away. Strange when considering he had probably looked at every single part of her while treating her injuries.

He did not try to push her into doing anything or even offer to help, but waited patiently till she got her bearing and then quietly held the door open.

“I don’t think there are any broken bones” He said it so quietly, she had to strain a bit to hear. “I have covered your scraps with syntho-flesh and given you a wide-range anti-biotic. The bruises will take a bit longer to disappear, but you should start to feel better in a couple of days”

Surprisingly, the walk back seemed a lot shorter than when he had been carrying her and he slowed down to keep up with her pace. The ship was definitely over 50 cycles old and was probably a cargo ship that followed larger fleets, carrying the more stable stuff like spare parts or building materials and were never meant to be lived in. Most of the doors had to be manually opened and closed and the monitors along the way did not seem to be working. They came to a small room which seemed like it had been a spare room and was not much bigger than her clothes closet back home - around 4 feet wide by 8 feet long. It held a mat, some pillows, a small writing table at the far end which could be used while seated on the mat and a small pile of clothes. The walls were bare and regulation gray but here too, the ground was carpeted, though this time a dull blue. Definitely junk sale material!!

She picked up the clothes and noticed they were for a young boy

“I was looking to get a male apprentice” he sounded apologetic from where he stood in the doorway. She dropped the shirt back onto the mat. He nodded and opened a small door on the side. There was tiny bathroom with a miniature tub.

“Water is precious, so try and soak first in the tub and then a quick shower to finish”

Tara stood still. She could hear his words, but her heart would not accept what he was saying. She was being allowed to have a bath – real water, real soap. Her first in so long, her senses refused accept it as a possibility. She heard the water flow, saw the steam rise and breathed in the scent of the liquid soap he was pouring into the bath and yet she could not move

“There” he said almost sounding triumphant and wiped his hands on his pants. He looked like he had never drawn a bath before in his life and seemed quite proud of himself. He looked at her and grinned. The grin turned into a frown when she still did not move.

“Look, you need to wash off the dirt” he told her patiently like speaking to a child and then when she did not react, stood there looking confused, wondering what he was going to do. When Tara still did not move, he sighed and stepped forward, gently drew her to the tub, slowly pulling off the sheet at the same time. She flinched and closed her eyes in fear and she felt him go still, as if he was furious with her, but he was incredibly gentle when he carefully lifted her up and immersed her into the water.

“I am sorry, but I will have to cut your hair. Its tangled beyond restoration. I will bring scissors”

Kathara could not take it any further, the absence of pain, the warmth of the water, the fragrance of the bath oils and the kindness of the stranger was more than she could handle Drawing her legs up she rested her head on her knees and cried. These were not any ladylike tears, but big gulping sobs, that jerked her body and cleansed her soul. She thought of her family, the betrayal, the war, the bombs exploding around her and remembered the madness that had surrounded her since the day she had run through the ruble looking for her family and the pain and humiliation and death that had been always around on the slaver ship and cried some more. Above all, she remembered the mind numbing fear that had been her constant companion – the fear of more pain, the fear of seeing it dealt to others and mostly, the fear of not knowing what was coming next and finally the misery of knowing she had been such a coward, she could not have even taken her own life, although the opportunity had risen several times.

[Bindu1000]

Her eyes burned and her stomach cramped and her lungs hurt but she still kept sobbing and even when she thought she could not shed another tear, she remembered her mother and father and brothers and wept some more.

She could not remember how long she wept, but suddenly, almost like a tap run dry, she drew one deep, shuddering breath found herself empty of any more tears and emotions. Her breathing still hurt and her sobs slowed to great heaving sighs and hiccups. The water had also gotten quite cold which in a controlled environment on a ship meant she had been crying for a very long time and she now began to shiver again, but not from fear- she was no longer afraid of anything that could come and her ragged mind trying to find something to hold onto, told her it was all because she had had a bath!

It was then she realized that someone was gently brushing her hair. While she had been weeping, oblivious of everything but her pain, the strange man who looked at her with storms in his eyes and turned away while she dressed, he had shampooed and cleaned her hair and without any pain, detangled it, so that it now fell down her back like a curtain.

“If you did not want me to cut it, you should have just said so” he said in a dry voice. His voice was matter of fact with just a touch of humour, but when she looked up at him and noticed his face was neutral and a slight smile played on his lips, his eyes showed deep worry and a touch of panic. He was purposely being inane, to get her back to normal.

Tara tried and succeeded in giving a slight, wobbly smile and stood up; she still had enough grasp of her senses to know she needed to get out of the now ice cold water. Her master gulped, stuttered and then got up soo fast; he slipped on the wet floor and went flat on his back with a muffled yelp. Tara gasped in surprise and shock which caused him to automatically look at her again while trying to get up from his undignified position on the floor, and seeing her standing butt there calf deep in the small tub, sat back on the floor and actually scrambled backwards on his butt so fast, she was afraid he would hurt himself.

“I will wait outside for you” he muttered gruffly and disappeared.

Tara turned on the shower and let it rinse her for exactly 60 seconds, after which the water stopped automatically. Water was precious for all space farers, especially for a ship like this – too small to have its own converter.

Jarrett waited until he heard the water stop, gave her another 15 minutes and then walked back into the room.

“Dinner will be ready in …” he stopped and looked down at the sleeping mat. She had thrown on a tunic and curled up into a ball, was fast asleep. Her hair, still dripping wet, was splayed on the ground next to her. There was water everywhere and had soaked the mat she slept on. It was obvious she has not bothered to dry herself

“Increase heat by 20 Plics” he commanded. This was going to eat into his energy reserves but there was little else to do. He had not gone though the many forms of hell this day, just to lose her to the cold. Most spacers were able to withstand much lower degrees of cold, a necessity when traveling through the frozen expanses of space as part of conserving energy. But planethums still needed the higher levels to survive.

Cleaned up, he could see the deep red colour of her hair emerge. Her legs lay curled up under her, a smooth and creamy gold. He felt the same stirrings of desire he had felt when he first saw her stand up in the tub, covered with soap suds and for one brief moment, he allowed his mind to drift, imagining himself waking her up and stripping the damp tunic from her lush body of her and burying herself in her soft curves. With syntho-skin covering almost all her bruises, she had glowed a warm, creamy rose, with darker hued nipples adorning breasts that were larger than average, but not too big that would have suggested surgery. He imagined those same breasts, filling his hands, while he nibbled on her ….

Jarrett groaned and swore in every form of galactic curse he had ever learned and could recall to mind (which was not working to well, due to his whole supply of blood being directed a lot lower.) Just because she had been bought by him (‘at the cost of his entire life’s savings’ – as nasty little voice whispered in his mind ), did not mean he had any right to use her as a slave.

“Why not?” (that voice was getting on his nerves) “You paid with every bit of credit you had saved. You will not be able to have any luxuries or visit any pleasure house until you once again saved up money for the engine over-haul, so why not? You know you will make sure she is pleasured too”

Jarrett pressed his fingers against his temples and concentrated on his breathing. It must be the heat in the room. That was it! It was making him his body hard and destroying his sanity. He felt his penis painfully and hard against the constraints of his pants and tried to ignore its call. Instead he picked up the blanket and gently covered her sleeping form. Now, with only her head peeping out, she looked so like a child, that he felt shame overcome his lust; like a pervert to have even allowed the thoughts of seducing her, to even come to mind. That helped his body came back to normal better than a cold shower.

Jarrett stepped outside, closed the door and dropping his head into his hands, breathed deep calming breaths. There was going to be some long and stressful years ahead of him.


Tara woke to soft wet bits being poked into her face and fierce, whispered commands in the background. She put her hands up and encountered a warm wriggly body which caused her to squeal in terror and scrambled backwards while trying to sit up at the same time. Four balls of fur, big eyes, floppy ears and wagging tails tried hard to keep up with her and scramble up her body and get to her face. A very red faced and embarrassed human was trying to pick them all up at once and failing miserably.

[Bindu1000]

“I am sorry, I just came by to see if you were up, coz we have to leave soon and you need to eat before that … I just opened the door and they barged in … I did not mean to …” He looked so helpless and out of breath, Tara felt her fear leave and an urge to laugh well up but it was too soon for such an emption. What came out was a rough sort of wheezing sound, but it caught his attention and he slowly grinning.

“Puppies” Tara whispered. “Genuine earth puppies” She picked up the smallest one who had been pushed aside by his siblings and tucking him under her chin, buried her nose in the downy fur covering the underside of his throat. The pup’s ecstasy was immeasurable. He squirmed and wriggled and furiously licked her chin, and if there had been an residue of fear left in her, it melted away. The smell of puppy was like nothing else and brought a sense of peace and love and along with the its warmth against her face, undid a bit more of the pain in her heart.

She looked up, eyes shinning to see the golden haired mother sitting patiently beside her mat. Her tail was bushy and with each furious wag, a waft of cold air flew over Tara. Her new owner squatted beside her and smiled. “Well, I guess I am losing the battle, so I will go get breakfast started and you can join me when you have changed”. He indicated a new pile of clothes sitting neatly in a corner. “I am sorry, they are all men’s attire, but we will see what we can do in the next port of call”

He arose and walked to the door.

Kathara stood up quickly, tumbling squealing puppies all around. She was trembling, but managed to bow low without falling over. “Please Master, what will be my duties?”

She felt her shoulders grabbed and she was roughly jerked up so that she faced him. He had moved so fast, she had had no time to even react. His eyes were darker than before and she felt that if she looked any deeper, she would see lightening strike in their depths. She whimpered in fear and her shivering changed to shudders.

“Forgive me” he muttered and dropped his hands immediately and then his eyes. “I did not mean to frighten you” He looked at her again and she could see he had gotten his emotions under control somewhat, although his body was tense and still. “I am not your Master and you will never, ever call me that again. You are my” (he scratched his head) “uh, umm… apprentice and you will work alongside me in this ship”

Tara swallowed, her emotions see-sawing so much she found that small action painful, and bowed. “I thank you” The words seem so damn inadequate somehow. She had been beaten and battered so much that she could barely handle even a little bit of kindness. She could not look at him for the tears burning her eyes.

“Please Sir, what may I call you?”

He scratched his head again, and seemed to consider her words and then nodded. “I am your Captain, so you may call me Captain Jarrett when we are in public and Jarrett on the ship” he looked apologetic “I am sorry, but you will need to wear the Slave bracelet until such time I could get you proper papers. This is only for your protection” He looked downright depressed with those words that Tara felt an urge to smile. “I understand and you need not apologise”

Jarrett felt his heart contract and his spirit soar when he saw a little bit more of the fear leave her eyes, and a slightest of smiles curl her lips. It was a mere shadow of the one he had seen 4 e-cycles ago, but it was a beginning. He had an insane urge to grab her and hug her close to his heart, but he resisted impulse because he knew it would only freak her out completely. Her hair, now dry and showing its dark red colour, hung like a wild mane around her and he had a sudden, unwanted, almost desperate need to know what it would feel like to run his fingers through it. The stress had already started and he tried hard not to groan out loud.

“And what shall I call you?” he asked and held out his hand in the old – earth custom. She flinched and then looked surprise. It was common knowledge that slaves did not have names or any identity of their own and their owners called them what they wished. It was also tradition among her people that names had power and true birth name were only shared with close family and friends. For all other instances, a pet name given by the parents sufficed – something that identified a trait. Her family had called her Flick in public as they said she constantly flickered from one thing to another.

Tara decided a leap of faith was in order. After all – she had lost her right to any privileges of her name when Paradiso had fallen long with her family and lineage.

“I was born by the name Tara” she said and slipped her hand into his.

Jarrett tried to contain his joy and instead of shaking her hand, raised it to his lips and very lightly kissed the back of it. “If that is your birth-name, we will call you Kat in public then” he said. “Your hair – it looks like the mane of the large cats back from earth” he added.

Tara was shocked. He obviously knew she was L’Hundro and would not have liked to be addressed by her birth name in public.

“How…” she whispered.

“It does not matter” he countered. “What is important is that you trust me and know that I will not hurt you. If you will work as my partner and apprentice, we can build a team together and rock the stars” he grinned and dropping one more ultra-light kiss on her knuckles, turned and walked out. The big, golden dog followed in his wake, with her 4 pups tripping behind her.

[Bindu1000]

When she finally found her way to the tiny kitchen (it wasn’t too hard – the ship was tiny and all she needed to do was follow the sound of cursing), she found him wrestling with an ungainly machine. She has never seen one on her home planet – but was educated enough to know it was an outdated form of a food synthesizer – called fynthesizer for short. The kitchen (if you could call it that) was almost as tiny as her room and was the only area which had waist high furniture – a thin long table with 3 ancient looking unmatched stools ( it was probably to enable people to eat on the run). The table itself was wood – unusual, and the top was scarred and stained, but had been recently cut and polished. On the opposite side of the table from the stools, cupboards lined the 3 walls and in the middle of the cupboards, stood the black, dented and she could have sworn – lopsided, Fynthesiser.

She had dressed in the clothes left in her room, which was probably his. The pants – a dark gray, had to be held up with cord and the legs rolled up a bit. The shirt, a pale blue and obviously one of the basic “One size fits all” hung almost to her knees and was pretty worn out, but was soft to the touch and warm.

Once he noticed she entering, he gave up peering and muttering into the machine and pointed her to a stool. Steaming food already sat on plates on the tiny table.

“I tried to make it a bit more flavorful…” Jarrett began and then stopped when it was obvious she was not listening. Kat was shoveling food into her mouth as soon as she could swallow

“Woah” Jarrett grabbed her hand. “slow down, you will make yourself sick if you eat that fast, after starving for so long”

In the recesses of her mind, Kathara knew that he was making sense but instead animalistic emotions fought for control. Fear of his touch made her want to bite his hand, hunger made her want to grab the food and bolt, find a hole to hide and keep eating. She growled at the back of her throat and tried to pull her hand back. Thank goodness, she managed to get a grip on herself when he did not let go but continued to look gently into her eyes. She felt her cheeks burn and looked down in embarrassment but could not block the fear in her eyes or the rigidity of her body. He dropped his hand immediately when he realized she was back to normal.

“Its only synthesized food and does not taste that great, but its nutritious and you need that” he made light conversation like they were two friends sitting at a simple restaurant and sharing a meal; he was obviously trying to put her at ease. Tara felt a strange feeling overcome her, not exactly affection for this strange man who knew so much about her and showed so much kindness, but something close.

Tara put the plate down and took a sip of water, beginning to feel her stomach cramp as it started to accept solid food after so much time living on liquids.

“I could never accept the fact that spacers could not be given real, planet grown food” he continued talking as he started to pick at his own plate of food.

He really was pretty decent looking, she thought, studying him as he joined her at the table and began to eat. In the tiny space, he was only a couple of feet away and she could see him clearly. Thinner than most Free Traders which she knew he must be, he did not have an ounce of fat and his lean body clothed in only a sleeveless work vest, showed every muscle in outline. A light sprinkling of black hair showed above the neckline of the vest and thin silver chain with a strange symbol caught the light when he moved. He had shaved and the shadow on his jaw was no longer there, but it only served to emphasize his high cheekbones and his warm smile. Tara caught herself. When had she started thinking of his looks?

He looked up and caught her gaze and smiled absentmindedly. Unaware of the strange effect his smile had on her, he continued with the subject he had begun “That’s one of the Megadoom laws. A soul born off planet, without soil of his own..”

“cannot eat off planet grown food, unless shared by another who then must forego his own share” She finished the law for him softly. “Yes, I know the law and I also know why it was implemented although I neve did quite agree”. She noticed his frown and cocked her head onto a side “Do you not know why it was implemented?” she asked He shook his head.

Her eyes grew distant and for a moment Tara was back on Paradiso, sitting under the Brella trees in her garden while her governess told her stories of the Exodus. She continued in formal speech

“When humans left the earth to heal from the scars and hurt they had inflicted upon her, they set sail to the four reaches of the galaxy and the doorway back was shut forever, as the memory of its position was erased from every ship that left. They thought to find hundreds of earth type planets, where families could live and grow, but all they found were the 19 planets of the Shire. Thousands of planets circled thousands of suns, but only 19 were able to support human life. As custom among the children of earth who had obviously learned nothing from their past, the wars began again as those with the powerful ships took the planets and the smaller clans were left to starve in space. Then one day in a powerful battle between two battleships, one was so damaged, it lost control and plunged into the atmosphere of one of the 19 worlds and the chain reaction that resulted when its weapons ignited, destroyed that world and all its inhabitants and shocked the Shire into coming together to agree on some common laws. From this, the laws of Megadoom arose and all living descendants of Earth swore to uphold them above all”

Tara blinked and looked to find Jarrett listening with intensity, his mouth slightly open and his fork lifted halfway. He looked disappointed when she stopped. “So how does that explain the law on food?” he asked.

[Bindu1000]

“Well, at first those living on the fertile planets started supplying food to those who made their lives on the moons and ships and the barely habitable planets, as the first sign of peace, but soon food became the most revered commodity and mining towns began where people worked like slaves to mine minerals or produce goods to exchange for food from the planets. The synthesizers were already developed, but it was only used by the very poor and suddenly the planets found they were destroying their own eco-system as they had to done to mother earth. It makes sense, you know. When you grow food on a planet, your bodily wastes are fed back into the soil and then when you die, your body is once again absorbed back into the eco-system. It’s the perfect cycle. Now start sending the food out and the bodies of spacers are buried in spaces, nothing can be used again. No planet is inexhaustible” She smiled.

Jarrett sighed. He could listen to her soft, lilting voice forever. She also was pretty intelligent and probably knew a lot more than he had ever had a chance to learn, growing up as a Cont’s daughter.

“I would love to hear more, but the boxes are loaded and we need to get out of here” he said regretfully. He pushed the balance food across to her. “Here, finish this while I do the last minute checks”

Tara nodded and accepted the food. Although he had a fynthesizer, it still needed base proteins to work from and in a ship this small, the space that could be given to grow the mould and moss that most synthesized foods were made from would be restricted. There was also the Orco grain that had to be added to supply the protein and which could not be grown on a ship the size of Wrath. He would need to buy this. So food was limited and he was being kind and she knew he would not accept refusal.

She closed her eyes and looked deep into her soul for that tiny grain of peace that was slowly taking root. L’Hundro were a simple people with a simple religion. It was said they were descendants from a ship of farmers and peace makers who had taken the least habitable planet and turned it into paradise. They simply worshiped the Creator and they did this without any fancy buildings or complicated ceremonies.

Tara did what she had been taught as a child and done everyday until the day the first battle ships had appeared above her planet. She found her centre and thanked her God and then begged his blessings on this sweet, wonderful, clumsy man she was to call her Captain. Then she pledged her loyalty to him in all things and begged her God to give her strength to give him this loyalty he deserved. It was both peace-giving and painful as it meant she had to give up every other thought of revenge which had taken root in her heart those long miserable months aboard the slave ship.

Jarrett poked his head about the door startling her

“The planet that burned from the battleship, was it ‘Pithos’?” he asked. Pithos was a planet that was purposely kept un-inhabited where the Council of the Shire had its headquarters and every planet sent at least a team of scientist ever year to work on restoring its burnt lands. A sort of a tithing from the planets

“Yes” Tara smiled then added hesitantly “There will be lots of time in between ports where I can teach you all I know of our history – if you wish to learn” She was rewarded with a smile so brilliant, it threatened to drop her on her knees.

“Excellent” was the happy reply.

[Bindu1000]

CHAPTER 3
4 e-cycles later

The hanger doors closed with a soft hiss and the whoop that followed was loud enough to be heard clearly by the person who stepped into the store room. Considering the store room was big enough to store a least two small shuttles and then some, the whoop would have been ear drum shattering had the visitor been any closer to the small figure suspended close to the top side of the huge doors.

“Ahh” the gentleman nodded and bowed to the figure quickly lowering itself down from the harness “the job has been done to our satisfaction”

The figure now on the ground, quickly undid the ropes and fairly ran across the hanger deck. As it came closer, a long red plait tumbled out from under the cap and thus proved the figure to be a young girl, who promptly bowed to the gentleman in turn.

“Mr. Masoki, I am pleased that you are satisfied.” She bowed again and presented him with her Blink.

“More than satisfied and would like to invite the Lady Kat for chai and an evening meal” came the polite reply in turn as Mr. Misoki pressed his finger against the device.

Kathara smiled, bowed again and swiftly took the Blink from Mr. Misoki’s fingers. “I am needed for another job” she said apologetically and by habit “but am honoured with the invitation. Maybe another time”

“Maybe another time” smiled Mr. Misoki, fully well knowing that the most attractive and gifted mechanic in the free trade system would never accept any invitation. Not that it stopped people from offering time and time again. The only thing that kept them from pressing their attentions was the fact that her services as a mechanic was far more valuable than an evening in her company and no one wanted to piss her off as her temper as well known as her talents.

It had happened all very innocently. That first trip to Tlano – a mining colony, had been short – just 5 days and Wrath had carried perishable cargo which meant goods had to be unloaded and delivered immediately on arrival. The first 2 days had passed in a haze of sleeping and eating for her while Jarrett had worked feverishly on his own and it was then that it started to pierce her brain the amount of work the captain of the pc of junk she was in did, just to keep the ship going. It was obvious that it was not going to survive very much longer and from the worried frown he always carried while fixing stuff, (and the thorough education she got on all the swear words when she was in hearing distance) it was obvious the break-down was going to be sooner and not later! So on the 3rd day, she found a corner away from his striding around (and muttering) and started to dig into the ship’s memory banks for all information on the piece of scrap metal she was riding in.

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 3 cont ...

What Jarrett and of course no one else knew, was that the Cont of Paradiso was a Spacer fanatic and he had instilled his daughter the same craze. Kat’s mother had died when she was 6 and being that her brother and sister were her seniors by 6 and 8 years respectively, she had taken to following her father around like a puppy. The Cont, mourning his wife and being a strong advocate of children not growing up around strangers, took comfort in his little shadow and took her with him whenever he had time to spend on his hobby. Even after he had re-married a wonderful lady who Kat had loved as her own mother, the father and daughter team continued much to the despair of the new Contess who had been a gentle, sweet natured person brought up in the traditional L’Hundro tenets where women were loved and treasured and never allowed to do any physical labour other than help their husbands and fathers in the softer aspects of farming. By the time Kat was in her teen cycle, she could understand almost anything and everything about ships, their engines and the complex computers that ran them.

The moment they had landed, Jarrett had hustled her off the ship and handed her over to the Captain of another ship –the “Morning Star”after distractedly telling her to be good, had taken off to get his cargo unloaded and paid for. Captain Morning had been scary huge, with a shock of long, silver hair and massive arms that made him look just a bit like an ape, but his eyes had been warm brown and intelligent and within a few hours had accepted her assistance in repairing the ships loader arms which had malfunctioned, trapping him planet-side. The Ship Repairers Guild had black listed him for some long forgotten argument he had had over a bill and were now holding him at ransom by delaying to send a repair merchant to attend to his ship. When Kat had found the mechanical break-down and within hours managed to fix it, he had been ecstatic. Morning had not left it there, but spread the news among other traders who were stuck planet-side without repairs, due to various disputes with the guild and in the next 2 days, Kat had fixed 3 other ships.

It had been the start of a very very profitable career.

Kathara rubbed her tired neck and stretched. The work had been simple but being suspended in a mocked up harness had been hard on her muscles. She looked at the kind eyes of the old gentleman and smiled again. Suddenly, she wondered what would happen if she accepted and invitation and had at least a chai. After all – she had finished all her appointments for the day and all she had waiting for her was a fynthesised meal alone on the Wrath, until the bars closed and Jarrett came back and silently, crawled into bed. She could not remember the last time she had had a proper conversation with him.

She could not say it didn’t hurt. For the first year or so, they spent the long hours in between ports talking about everything. Mostly it had been her teaching and him listening as she taught him everything she knew, from the history of their people, to how to knit socks – which strangely he took to very well and was now actually better than her.

But then after a year or so, and with the new additions to their ship, they no longer had to live in close proximity and they slowly drifted apart as more offers of jobs came her way. They both worked like mules when docked and then slept or read while travelling. The new engines also meant they were able to travel faster in the nether between gates shortening their trips from an average of 1 week to around 3 days.

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 3 cont ....

They now spent extra time planetside whenever they docked, to keep up with the demand for Kat’s services but spent it totally apart.

Kat was lonely and she yearned for the company of the one man who obviously did not feel the same .

“Actually Mr. Masoki, I will accept your offer and share a chai with you

The pleasure that shone in the old man’s eyes lifted her heart her happy and it also lifted a bit of the hurt from her heart; someone wanted to spend time with her.

“Come” he invited her to follow and stepped onto the walkway that connected the storage bays to the living quarters.

The ship was one of the newer X-OO designs and had separate living quarters that could house not only the crew, but also their families if needed, although as far as Kat was concerned, none had been allowed. The ship was currently deserted as most of the workers were either loading cargo or on shore leave and there was a weird sense of looming emptiness as the walk discs whisked them to their destination. Kat liked the idea of walk discs. Stored at the end of a walkway, once you stepped on it and picked up a tiny disk stored on the railings on either side, the discs sped you along at your preferred speed (speed was controlled by pressing on the little disks and Kat always wondered what it would be like if she could take it to the maximum) . You could also maneuver it around those traveling at slower speeds in the event you were in a hurry and since energy was only used when someone stepped onto the disk, excellent in saving power.

They entered into a beautifully maintained hallway and then stepped into Mr. Misoki’s private quarters. There were little bonsai trees everywhere and the furnishing were silk; in colours of greens and browns that made Kat feel like she was planetside and not on a ship. She sighed in pleasure and stretched.

“Please sit, Lady Kat” he indicated a pile of cushions on the mat, near a group of trees that were larger than the usual bonsai size but smaller than nature intended. Almost everyone sat on the floor. Chairs that she had once thought were normal fixtures for humans from earth, in the spacer world were now only kept for pilots and meeting rooms

When the Chai came, it was served in delicate china, hand engraved in a beautiful, floral design that made her hear ache. Kat took one sip - and almost spat it out again in shock!! This was not the Chai of space farers, made from the Orco bean which grew under any harsh circumstances, and flavoured with Ocoli milk – the milk from a beast of burden who could survive in almost environment, but whose genetic make up was such that absolutely no nutrition or value could be absorbed into the human system; this was something more. She took another tentative sip and closed her eyes as the flavour reminded her of an old memory. She pushed the memory aside – there was no room in her life for nostalgia, and regretfully put the cup down.

“Forgive me, but I am spacer born and cannot partake of planetside food” the words came automatically.

“I know, but I am planet born and this is my share and I give it you” came the reply

A memory of similar words pushed at the far reaches of Kat’s mind and this time she filed it away for future examination. She looked at Mr. Misako and noticed he had not taken a cup.

“I will not drink this time, so please enjoy”

Kat picked up her tea and although feeling guilty, closed her eyes while drinking the balance, savouring every bit of it.

“Why?” she asked.

Mr. Misako seemed to know exactly what she wanted to know.

“If I had asked for the mechanic from the guild house, the work they would have done would have been just a little, tiny bit short of perfection, making me come back every year, in addition to charging almost double of your fees. You take pride in your work and I know that the doors would probably corrode and fall apart before the mechanism controlling it gave me anymore trouble”

When she opened her mouth to speak, he smiled and held up his hand

“Also, I am alone. My family is planet-side and while my crew is good, I am still their Captain. I am man enough to like to enjoy the company of a beautiful young girl and watch the pleasure of a real cup of tea, flit across her face”

Kat grinned, but felt self conscious. For the first cycle or so of her new life, she had traveled across the galaxy dressed as a boy, trying to cover anything that may identify her as an attractive young female. Until she started to fill out far too much to hide it under shapeless clothes. At first she thought it would affect her work but the spacer community recovered fast from the shock of realizing their best mechanic was a young girl and the only change was with each job – came invitations of meals and drinks which she never accepted.

There was only one person she wished to think her attractive or at least interesting enough to spend time with and he treated her like a sack of potatoes. Thinking about him reminded her she had to go home.

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 4


When Kat walked into the bar, Jarrett was at his usual place, arguing with another group of free traders and complaining about the large Trade houses that were crowding out their business. Nothing had changed in the last 4 e-clicks. She sighed and made her way to the table after making sure her hair was securely tucked in and her hat pulled way down her forehead so it shadowed her features.

She had gone back to the Wrath, but there was a strange edginess in her today that made her come looking for Jarrett. Maybe it had been the taste of planet grown Chai which had revived memories she preferred forgotten or the conversation with Mr. Misako which made her want to revive her long forgotten friendship with her captain.

Jarrett was aware of Kat the moment she walked into the bar although his back was to the entrance, his senses automatically went on full alert although nothing showed in his demeanor when she slid into the seat next to him. She was dressed in her usual baggy jeans and shirt and looked to all who did not know her, like a young boy. Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone who did not know her. She was one of the best mechanics and her services were sort after more than any guild mechanic. Thankfully, most of the large Trade houses had pacts with the Guild Houses and therefore could not use her services without causing a ruckus, or she would have been swamped with work. As it is, she had not learnt to say no, and would work herself to the bone with the work they were getting from the free traders.

"Why are you here??" he hadn't intended to sound so brusque but he hated to think of her walking alone in this part of the planet.

"I was tired of being alone and thought of looking for some company" her voice showed the hurt. She had never learnt to hide her feelings and it made things so much worse for Jarrett.

"I am sure anyone of your clients would have been only too glad to have kept you company" he sneered, even as he mentally kicked himself for the hurtful words

The 30 seconds of silence that followed was deafening although they sat in the middle of a bar as Kat decided on a proper come back, but her voice was sad when she finally did.

"Mr. Masoki gave me planet grown Chai and asked me to stay for dinner, but I thought you might have come back to the Wrath since we leave tomorrow and I wanted to cook something nice for you"

Jarrett felt like a heel

The Pleasure Sensi - Naturelle, seated on the other side of Jarrett smiled at Kat. She was, as all in her trade, quite stunningly beautiful with a voluptuous figure which she displayed charmingly in a blue silk gown. 30% was genetic enhancements and another 20% at least were cosmetic surgery. Her dress was so tight, it had to be Maskil silk ? one of the strongest silk fibres known ? to withstand the pressure. She reached forward and picked up Kat?s hand and pushed back the long sleeve and frowned.

"No Tacklet?" she asked

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 4 cont ...

Her leaning over Jarrett did two things. It pushed his shoulder into Kat’s body and it also displayed Naturelle’s charms more clearly for his viewing pleasure.

The body contact sent strange thrills of pleasure through her and made her want to stay that way forever; the warmth of his body taking away the chill of loneliness, while Naturelle’s blatant sexuality on offer made her want to snarl like a Kinter cat and pull him away

Instead she looked as confused as she felt which was built on by the sudden silence which descended with everyone suddenly finding their drinks to be extremely interesting while straining to hear the exchange. Jarrett roughly grabbed Kat’s hand away and glared at Naturelle.

“She is a child and it is not needed” he countered.

Kat looked at Jarrett. He was actually blushing. She opened her mouth to speak and the glare she received from him, changed the words to a squeak and made her choke. Jarrett clapped her on the back and handed her his drink. Her nerves in a mess and wanting to do anything that would take her from the centre of attention, Kat took one sip which did quite the opposite and made her break into a paroxysm of coughing. The conversation returned to the table as Jarrett quickly called for a glass of water.

He cursed silently as he had totally forgotten what he had been pretending to drink

Kat glared at him, eyes watering “Are you trying to kill me, then” she sounded hoarse. At least he had the decency to look ashamed but he only kept thumping her on the back apologetically.

She removed herself from his thumping and tried to sip the water to cool her burning throat. Did people actual drink this stuff from choice?

It seemed the whole ‘Tacklet’ issue and what it had to do with her age was forgotten and once again the subject moved to the usual economies, but Kat was determined to discuss it with her ‘Captain’ the moment she had him alone.

“Hey, fellow warriors” came a greeting and Kat turned in pleasure to welcome the person who had just joined her group. To her surprise, he gave her only a fleeting smile and moved to sit at the other end. She was shocked

Reckl was a young free trader who had only recently taken over his father’s ship and joined their group. Compared to the rest, he had a decent education and was reasonably good looking. Normally when they happened to be in the same planet together, he made a bee-line to her side and generally spent the evening charming her and trying desperately to get into her pants. Morals were loose among those who traveled the stars and rare were long term relationships, though not unknown.

Naturelle leant over and whispered into her ear

“I believe it is because of what I said, I think he heard our conversation and now knows you do not wear a tacklet”

Kat looked around and saw Jarrett engrossed in a conversation with Captain Boos and whispered back “What is a tacklet?”

Naturelle looked aghast. She looked around and then showed her arm. A beautiful bracelet studded with precious stones and tiny dangling charms, graced it. Kat looked closely and noticed the tiny light near the clasp. Naturelle nodded towards it

‘It is coded and locked by a Certified Shire-side doctor and it holds all your medical information. Your genetic code, your fertility cycles and of course your heritage.” She frowned “It is given to all space faring girls the moment they hit puberty so I do not understand your Captain’s comment on your age” her voice trailed lower “unless you are his property which means you must have a slaver’s bracelet” Naturelle looked positively happy. It was obvious she was not too bright and a young woman without a tacklet was too much for her brain to deal with.

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 4 cont ....

Suddenly Jarrett was at her elbow, pulling her to her feet. The look on his face meant he had heard the conversation and he actually looked so fierce he actually made her afraid. But she squared her shoulders and nodded back at him

“We need to get back, there is a shipment of Urati fish due to arrive and they need to be secured immediately”

It was all Kat could do not to gape. If they were expecting perishable cargo, they should have been back at the ship, working feverishly to make sure everything was working perfectly. She sighed and rose to her feet. The whole drink issue, the Takelet and Jarrett’s strange behaviour was making her head hurt (it was more probably the heavy smoke in the air, but Kat found it more dramatic and more suited to the her personality to attribute it the evening’s saga)

They did not speak all the way back to the ship – in any case Jarrett was walking so fast, it was all Kat could do to keep up with him. Wrath was no longer a tiny junk heap, but had had a major over-haul and now sported additional storage bays. This left the original ship area for their personal living areas. She was no longer small enough to land planet-side so trading on the Krontt Space station was cheaper than having to hire shuttles to take them and their cargo up and down to the planet, since a shuttle was something they had still not invested in

The moment they were in the ship, Kat turned on Jarrett “What ..

He help up his hand and headed to the main deck where he sat in the pilot seat and looked moodily at the expanse of space in front of them. The ships were parked facing out.

“They are bracelets to assist with sexual inter-changes” he muttered

“What?”

“They are bracelets worn by all space women that allow them to engage freely in sex. They hold your genetic code and that of your parents and ancestors for as far as it is available. They also declare if you are fertile or not and also if you are disease free. It also ensured that when spacers meet, they were not going to start a relationship with a close relative.

He sighed and ran his fingers though his hair making it more untidy that it already was. He still did not face her

“I mean, you know how they work, every time a spacer enters a port, they have as many as 5 to 6 sexual encounters – sometimes together. And since hardly anyone marries, there is no way of knowing who your partner’s father or mother was.”

He finally looked at her and it seemed he looked tired and sad.

“Its also the tool that is used when a spacer decides to procreate. The woman is in charge and if she decides to have a child, then she checks his lineage against hers to ensure they don’t have common ancestors. Matter of fact people like Boos can trace their lineage upto the Originators. Do you know he has been requested to father up to 14 children and ….

“And if you don’t have one?” Kat interrupted him

“Then you’re a slave or ….” He stopped

“A slave I understand – their heritage is not known and they are anyway kept for their master’s pleasure, but what else?” she demanded

“It means you have either Alien DNA or are diseased and therefore not fit as a sexual partner”

Kat sank into the other pilot seat and looked around her. The place was changed beyond recognition from the ship she had stumbled into many e-cycles ago. With all her earnings from the many jobs she took on (which was quite substantial), she had replaced most of the out-dated machinery and equipment and decorated it with splashes of colour and odds and bits that gave it class. This had been her home for 4-e-cycles and for the first time in all that time, she wished she was far away.

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 4 cont ....

“Look” Jarrett turned to her “I did not think you needed that crap, we were a team, we were happy and ….” He did not get to finish his strange logic when Kat got up and walked sedately to her quarters. This conversation hurt too much for one that did not make any sense

Petri ran behind her expecting a game, but when she threw herself onto her mat and buried her face in her pillow, after giving him half-hearted pat, he quietly went and flopped down at her feet. As beautiful as his mum who had died a year ago, Petri was big with long, golden fur and a heart bigger than a planet. Kat had kept him and Jethri back when Jarrett had given away the other pups, but right now Jethri was with another spacer, making friends with his male dog. Hopefully there would be more pups running around the ship soon.

She heard the door open and felt Jarrett’s presence. He came up to her mat and sat down beside it. He did not say anything for sometime, but then he touched her shoulder gently. Although furiously angry, Kat could not stop herself from reacting to the sadness and kindness in his tone and had to force herself to stay still.

“Look Tara” he began and as it always did, Kat’s heart thawed out at the sound of her birth name and she turned over to face him. Jarrett never used ‘Tara’ casually and always maintained the L’Hundro’s tradition. She knew that he would only speak truth, after having addressed her thus.

“I just never thought it was necessary…”

Kat sat up and looked at him “No, you never thought” she quietly agreed. “You treat me as a child but you never thought that maybe I needed to be my own person. Yes, I never was in agreement with the way the spacers freely engaged in sex and yes, I have no urge to rush out and jump into bed with the first spacer I was attracted to, but maybe I wanted to meet someone and fall in love”

“Or maybe you still thought of me as your slave although you don’t force me to wear the bracelet”

The words had meant to hurt and they did. He looked stricken and it stopped her from continuing. It was a look of such distress and anguish that she was speechless. He turned away from her and looked at the walls of her cabin. She had painted a mural of a forest on it a long time ago and though it wasn’t very good, the colours soothed.

He started to arise ‘I will make arrangements to take you the nearest facility” he began, his voice sounding like gravel, like he was fighting strong emotion. Kat grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“You cant just walk away like that … oomph”

Since he was in the process of getting up and she was still half lying down, he lost his balance and with a grunt, sprawled across her.

Kat found her face pressed again his chest and for a moment he just held himself there, with his own face buried in her hair. She felt her body totally come awake and her skin tingled. She had never been this close to him with the smell of his skin that was uniquely Jarrett surrounding her and she felt like she could never breathe again.

He then shuddered like he was fighting for self control and almost violently pushed himself off and sat down awkwardly again, facing her. In the smallness of her cabin, his presence was overwhelming.

His breathing seemed uneven and Kat attributed it to the shock of falling.

[Bindu1000]

Chapter 4 Cont ....

“I am not a child, Jarrett” she said quickly to cover up her own sudden difficulty in breathing (what was her problem?) and without thinking, pulled open her shirt and slipped it off, stripping down to the thin tank she wore underneath. Her only thought was to show him that she was all woman when she realized his breathing had grown harsher and his eyes were focused on her breast

His skin flushed and when he raised his eyes to her, the look he gave, made her feel light-headed and dizzy

Kat realized she had opened a door and let an elephant in to the room

She briefly considered pulling her shirt back on but that would embarrass them both and then when she thought things couldn’t get worse, she realized with growing horror that her body was reacting to the heat in his gaze and the evidence of her desire was clearly visible through the thin fabric. Oh good grief!! What the hell was her problem?

Jarrett’s breathing turned harsher, Kat decided the only way out was to ignore the sexual tension and fan the embers of her temper, hoping it would detract attention from old Jumbo who was taking up more room by the second. She knelt on the mat facing him.

“I am now 24 e-cycles Jarrett and would like to have a relationship of my own. Maybe even a child of my own. I can more than get the permit for a child, with the money I make repairing ships”.

Jarrett swallowed and tried to get his body under control. This was not good. Here he was sitting in Kathara’s room, on her mat and all he could think of stripping the thin covering off her body and ravaging it with kisses. It was a common, recurring emotion he constantly battled with – but now, today, it was bad.

“Kat” he croaked and closed his eyes thinking it may help, but the vision stayed on n the back of his eyelids.

“What?” she snapped back

“Please … the last thing I do is consider you a child”

“Crap!! Not even a child, more like a walking artichoke” she countered.

He pressed his fingers against his forehead and opened his eyes. She had moved closer and her eyes were boring holes into his skull. He pressed his fingers harder into his temples, trying to concentrate on the sensation.

Then as suddenly as it had started, the fight went out of her and her hard emerald of her eyes turn to soft, sun warmed moss.

“Does your head hurt” she asked softly and reached out to touch cool fingers against his temples. “You know you shouldn’t drink so much and the stuff you drink … the noise, the smoke in that god-forsaken bar … “

Her mouth was just inches away and Jarrett knew he could not do this anymore. He could see her lips move but nothing she said was registering. Desire shot so powerfully across his body that he felt like he was being pulled taut like a string across a bow.

He had to know. She was going away and would find another to hold her and love her, but he would be damned if he did not taste her first.

“No, no, not a child or an artichoke or any other vegetable” he groaned and leaning forward closed the gap and kissed her.