“Just spit it out, A.L.,” he growled.
“It’s malfunctioning. It’s only at fifty percent at the moment and levels are dropping as we speak.”
“What?” Why didn’t you tell me before?” Sarden demanded.
“Well, you may recall that I warned something like this might happen some time ago. The panels in the scooping mechanism are warped and have needed repair or replacement for some time and—”
“Repair. Fine, I’ll repair them.” Sarden sighed as though repairing his spaceship was a boring chore you put off as long as you could—like taking out the trash or dusting the stuff in the china cabinet.
“I don’t know if repairs will work at this point.” A.L.’s butler voice sounded apologetic. “Or they may work but only temporarily. Not long enough to get us to Giedi Prime.”
“Damn it, A.L.—you know we have to get there before the auction!” Sarden growled, his eyes flashing deeper gold. “If we don’t—”
“I am aware, Master.” The dragonfly fluttered again. “Forgive me—I am running a full diagnostic now. Hopefully I will have more information for you when we reach the ship.”
“Let’s go then.” As he spoke, Sarden did something to one of the instruments on the control panel. Suddenly we were whizzing forward at an incredible speed.
I gasped, the sound ripped from me as what felt like a huge, invisible hand pressed me back against my seat. From the corner of my eye I caught my last glimpse of Earth—a round blue marble floating in the blackness of space.
Then it was gone and I wondered if I would ever see it again.
* * * * *
Sarden
I gritted my teeth in irritation as I locked the shuttle on course and steered towards the tiny desert planet the Earthlings called Mars.
I’d known that the panels on the hydrogen scoop were warping—there was no way they couldn’t at the rate I’d been pushing The Celesta lately. But I hadn’t had time to deal with it—I’d had a lot on my mind. Like finding the right item to trade to Tazaxx for one. It had to be perfect—something special and unique or he wouldn’t even consider it.
Tazaxx is one of the slimiest crime lords in the galaxy—I ought to know, I’ve smuggled for him often enough. But he has a weakness for beauty and for one-of-a-kind items no one owns but him.
In the little Pure One strapped into the seat beside me, I believed I had found what I needed—something Tazaxx absolutely couldn’t resist. Only that something was actually a someone, a fact I was trying strenuously to ignore as I piloted the shuttle closer to Mars.
There are plenty of smugglers who make their living in the slave trade, dealing rare and exotic inhabitants from distant planets to the rich, wealthy investors who collected them. I wasn’t one of them. My soul might be stained but that was one sin I’d tried to avoid.
Now I couldn’t help it. There was no other way—not if I was going to get Sellah back. But that would only happen if I could reach Tazaxx before he held his annual auction. If he decided he didn’t want her, if she got auctioned off to the highest bidder, perhaps one who lived on the far flung reaches of the universe where he could never be found, then Sellah might be lost forever.
No. I tightened my grip on the steering yoke, refusing to accept that possibility. I would not be too late. Somehow or other I would reach Giedi Prime in time.
And as for the little Pure One… I shot a glance at her from the corner of my eye. She was staring out the viewscreen at the side of the shuttle, her gaze trained on her planet, now just a speck in the blackness. Her chin was still lifted defiantly but her eyes were wide and I thought I saw a glimmer of unshed tears in them as she watched her home world disappear forever.
I would have told anyone who asked I didn’t have a heart or a conscience—a smuggler has no need of either one. Then why did I feel a stab of guilt as I watched her try to put on a brave face while I took her away from everything she’d ever known?
I turned to face the viewscreen, concentrating on my instruments as I pushed the emotion ruthlessly away. This was the only way—I had no other choice.
Though I felt like the worst kind of scum for doing it, Zoe would have to be traded.
Chapter Five
Zoe
We got to Mars faster than I could get to the nearest WalMart from my apartment back home. Not that I go there a lot, but sometimes in the middle of the night when there’s nothing else open and you have a craving for some Ben and Jerry’s, you have to go. The nice part is, you don’t even have to change out of your PJs if you don’t want to.
I have personally been guilty of wearing my favorite sweats and my sleepy bear t-shirt to Wally World and nobody even looks twice. Of course, the sloppy sweats and t-shirt were a hell of a lot more decent than what I had on now, which was just Sarden’s temperature regulating wife-beater t-shirt draped over my more sensitive areas. I wondered if he was going to give me anything else to wear once we reached his ship, or if I was just supposed to wander around naked, clutching my boobs and crossing my legs constantly.
I was really tired of being naked.
The red curve of Mars was barely looming in the windshield before we zipped around its side and came to a long, needle-shaped ship with a big round bulge at one end of it. Maybe that was the hydrogen scoop thingy Sarden had been talking about?
We were coming in so fast I thought we would crash right into it. A scream was rising in my throat but just at the last moment, the shuttle slowed down dramatically and its nose just barely kissed the side of the huge, needle-shaped ship.
At once, a hole irised open on the silver skin of the ship and our little shuttle was sucked inside. It gave me the creepy sensation of being sucked into a toothless mouth but before I could protest, we were in. The shuttle settled with a soft sigh and Sarden flipped off the ignition—or whatever it was that turned it off and on.
He pressed a button and the doors on either side swooped up—kind of like a DeLorean’s. He hopped out and was about to just leave me there when I shouted at him.
“Hey! Are you just going to leave me strapped in here or what?”
“Oh…” He turned back, as though I was the last thing on his mind. “Sorry. A.L.—take care of her.”
I was wondering how the golden dragonfly could manage the complicated straps holding me in place. But the dragonfly flew away—upward into the dim recesses of the metal ceiling. A panel opened and it flew inside. Well how was it going to help me up there?
Before I could yell at Sarden’s retreating back to ask him, a long, thin, many-jointed silver arm with a six clawed hand came down out of the same panel towards me.
I screamed, of course, because I don’t like it when metal claws come at me from out of the ceiling. I’m funny like that.
Though Sarden had been doing his best impression of the disappearing man—or disappearing alien, I guess—he turned and came charging back at once.
“What in the Frozen Hells of Anor is wrong now?” he demanded in a low, irritated growl.
“What do you mean, what’s wrong? You leave me strapped down and helpless and then a long metal claw arm starts reaching for me!” I exclaimed. “What do you think is wrong? I don’t want to die! That’s what’s wrong!”
“Die?” He looked at the silver, many-jointed arm and frowned. “Don’t be foolish—that’s just A.L.”
“My deepest apologies.” Suddenly another flexible metal arm came down but this one was topped by a thin rectangular box with a round blinking light in the center. Almost like an eye, I thought. The same proper English butler voice that had been coming from the gold dragonfly was now emanating from the box. “I am so sorry—I did not mean to frighten you, Lady Zoe.”
“I thought you were a dragonfly,” I told it. “What are you, anyway?”
“I am the computing system which runs this ship,” A.L. said. “Do you not have such things on your planet?”
“Only in science fiction movies,” I
told him. I looked at Sarden who was watching our little exchange impatiently. “You could have warned me, you know.”
“How was I to know your people are so primitive you don’t even have artificial life-forms? I don’t have time for this,” he growled, looking really irritated now. “Are you well or do I have to unstrap you myself?”
I thought of the heat of his big, warm body leaning over me, the spicy scent of his skin, and the tingling feeling I got when his long fingers brushed against my more sensitive areas. Then I looked at the six, long metal claws on the end of A.L.’s arm.
“I’ll take the claw,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Fine. Then I have to go see to the hydrogen scoop.” He turned again but I called after him.
“And what am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t care.” He made a dismissive gesture. “Wander the ship if you want. Just keep out of trouble. Oh…” He turned to face me once more briefly and stabbed a finger at me. “But don’t go into the storage area at the rear. It’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous for who? Dangerous how?” I demanded but he was already gone, his broad, red back disappearing through the sliding metal doors I swear reminded me of every Star Trek episode I ever watched with my dad when I was a little girl.
“If you’ll allow me to unfasten your harness, perhaps I can take you on a brief tour of the ship,” A.L.’s proper butler voice said in my ear.
I jumped when I saw that his round light was blinking right by my face—almost as if he was examining me.
“Okay, sure,” I muttered. “Just…be careful, okay? Those claws of yours look awfully sharp and some of my most delicate areas are pretty exposed here.”
“Of course—I will proceed with utmost caution,” he announced. Before I could answer, he had pulled the black shirt aside and was clicking the metal buckles that held the harness in place.
To my great relief, it popped open quickly and I was able to stretch out my cramped arms and legs. There was nothing else to wear, so I pulled Sarden’s black t-shirt over my head. It warmed me up immediately and fit like a very snug mini-dress. I didn’t love that—normally I wouldn’t mind showing off my curves but this wasn’t one of those times. Still, it was the best I could do and better than nothing although I wished fiercely I could have a bra and panties to go under it.
It smelled like him too—that warm, spicy, campfire smell that seemed to get in my head and make me dizzy. I tried to ignore it as I hopped out of the shuttle and followed A.L. out of the docking area.
“So you’re an artificial life-form?” I asked him as he hummed along, his round, blinking light-eye glowing like a lantern. The metal arm it was connected to slid neatly through the silver ceiling panels which parted with a ripple as he went and closed behind him seamlessly. I wondered what kind of alien technology allowed metal to flow like water. Then again, the fact that they were able to suck me through a mirror was even more impressive.
“I am indeed, Lady Zoe,” he answered in his prim and proper voice.
“And is that what A. L. stands for?” I asked. “Artificial life-form?”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t have any other name?” I asked curiously.
“Do I need one?” His proper butler voice sounded curious. “Master Sarden acquired me along with the rest of the ship in a game of chance. He has never bothered to give me any other name but I did not think I required one.”
“Everyone needs a name,” I said. “I’d name you Alfred, I think—that’s a good butler-type name. Al for short, which also goes with your initials.”
“Alfred.” He sounded cautiously pleased. “I think I like that, though I am not sure what a butler is.”
I explained briefly and Al got excited—in a mechanical kind of way.
“Yes—one who serves. This exactly encompasses my directive.” His round eye-light blinked excitedly. “Thank you, Lady Zoe. I shall be pleased to be your butler, Al.”
“Just Zoe is fine,” I said, smiling a little at his enthusiasm. “Last time I looked I was just a girl from Tampa—not landed gentry or anything.”
“Oh, but you must be accorded a title of respect,” Al told me seriously. “You have no idea, I think, of how very rare and special you are. You are the first Pure One to be officially taken from your planet. And you are a La-ti-zal as well.”
“Whatever that means,” I muttered. I still thought it was a load of hogwash. “Okay, where are we?”
I had been following Al through a narrow maze of metal corridors that made me feel kind of claustrophobic. But now they had opened out into one long, wide hallway which seemed to run the length of the ship.
“To the left is the navcom and the control area.” Al’s blinking light indicated the long metal passage with a nod. “To the right are areas for sleeping, eating, and entertainment. I believe these areas will be more to your interest. If you would follow me?”
“What if I don’t want to follow you? What if I want to see the control area?” I asked.
“Well, it is not forbidden, but I do not think you would know how to use any of the equipment. And even if you could, it would be impossible since all controls are voice locked to Master Sarden,” Al explained.
I sighed. No wonder Sarden felt free to let me wander around—I couldn’t affect anything since the whole ship responded only to him.
So much for my fantasies of getting in the cockpit, turning the ship around and flying back to Earth. Somehow in science fiction movies, the heroes are always able to figure out the alien tech and use it against the invaders. But I had to admit, though I hated to, that I wasn’t a techy kind of girl. Half the time I don’t understand everything my smartphone is doing. As complicated as the shuttle had looked, I didn’t think I had a chance of learning to fly the huge, needle-shaped spacecraft. Anyway, if it was locked to Sarden’s voice, then there was no way I could do anything—even if I’d been the geekiest science-freak around.
No, if I was going to get out of this predicament, it wasn’t going to be by learning to fly a spaceship. I would have to appeal to Sarden’s good side—if he had one, the big red jerk. I had to make him see me as more than a prisoner or a trading commodity. I had to make him see me as a person.
I had read an article about that once—about a girl who got kidnapped by some guys who wanted to hold her for ransom. She turned the situation around and made friends with her captors. They liked her so much they let her go without a scratch on her—she did a kind of reverse Stockholm syndrome thing on them.
That’s what I would have to do—reverse Stockholm the shit out of this situation until Big Red wanted to take me back to Earth. Which meant I was going to have to be a hell of a lot more charming than I usually was.
Well, crap.
Still, it was the only thing I could think of—Plan A. I had to put it into motion and the first thing to do was to find out more about my captor. I thought I had an idea of where to start.
“Take me to the sleeping quarters,” I told Al. “I’m, uh, kind of tired. I’d like to lie down.”
“You have, of course, had a very stressful experience, being transported from your home world.” Al sounded almost as if he cared. I wondered if he really somehow did or if it was just good programming.
“I have.” I manufactured a yawn. “I’m really tired.”
“Come this way.” His glowing light-eye led me down the corridor, pointing out various other areas along the way. “This is the food prep and dining area, where you may simulate yourself any kind of comestibles for your gustatory enjoyment.”
“Nice,” I murmured, taking a quick look as we went by. I caught a glimpse of a long bar against one wall with tall stools bolted to the table and a strange gold cylinder that looked like the world’s biggest stock pot with lots of brightly colored wires coming from it.
“And here is our entertainment area,” Al continued, his light nodding to another area as we passed. “Here you
can enjoy written, recorded, or holographic entertainments to pass the time during space travel.”
“Holographic?” The thought made me come to a screeching stop. “Like the holo-deck on Star Trek?”
“I am not familiar with the entertainment you mention,” Al said.
“I mean, is it a big room where you can imagine any scenario and the computer creates everything to go along with it so you can play out your wildest fantasies?”
The thought made me almost salivate with excitement. I thought of all the fantasies I could play out. I would instruct Al to download a copy of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and I would be Claire and he could simulate me a sexy, Scottish Jamie…or I could be Beth from J.R. Ward’s Dark Lover novel and he could simulate the hot vampire king, Wrath. (Can you tell I read a lot of romance?)
Or I might just play out a Sherlock Holmes scenario like they did in the Next Generation—remember the one where Moriarty got out and nearly took over The Enterprise? (God, I am such a geek.)
But if I did Sherlock Holmes, I decided, I would definitely play Watson and have Al simulate Holmes as Benedict Cumberbatch. Because how hot is he? Yum! It would be the first time that Watson actually jumped Holmes’ bones instead of just helping with his cases. Well, the first time outside of fan fiction anyway…
Or, leaving the book fantasies behind, I could just be a rich and famous model, walking the catwalk in fabulous clothes. Okay, I know I said I own my curves and I do. But just once it would be nice to be effortlessly skinny, you know? I’d like to see how it felt to be a size three with paparazzi all around, salivating for a glimpse of my sexy hip bones…
“Ah…I am afraid not. The holograph projector simply shows images of different areas of the known universe. You are not able to interact with them.”
Al’s proper butler voice brought me crashing down to Earth. Or to the spaceship, anyway.
“Damn.” To say I was super disappointed is an understatement. For a minute, I’d almost felt like it was worth being abducted by aliens. I’ve always wanted my own private holo-deck. But oh well, on with the plan.