He nodded. “I’ve heard of it. They mine aclamite—the metal used in a lot of interstellar communications systems.”
Anna nodded. “Exactly. It’s located on this huge asteroid that’s almost as big as a small moon way out in the Centauri system. Anyway, there aren’t a lot of people there. There are a few Kindred—mostly all married miners. And there are the Kanjis—a race of humanoids that are really small and petite. They’re wonderful people—I had a lot of girl friends there to hang out with.” She sighed wistfully, remembering them all. Ninji and Tija and Gilki…where were they now? And did they wonder what had happened to her?
“It sounds like a good life,” Dark remarked.
“It was. But it was lonely. I mean, despite having lots of friends, I couldn’t exactly date anybody there, you know? As I said, all the Kindred were married and the Kanji men are all really short and none of them is into big, plus-sized Earth girls.”
Dark frowned. “Plus-sized? I’m sorry—I haven’t heard that term before. What does it mean?”
“The same thing as ‘pleasingly plump.’ You know—fluffy? More to love?”
When he still looked confused she decided to stop beating around the bush.
“Basically it’s a nice way to say fat,” she said flatly. “The cute little Kanji men weren’t into girls that were a head and a half taller than them and who outweighed them by fifty pounds or more.”
Dark’s face cleared. “Oh—you mean an Elite.”
It was Anna’s turn to be confused. “A what?”
“An Elite is a female the Goddess has blessed with extra-generous curves,” he explained. “Didn’t you hear that term on the Mother Ship?”
Anna shook her head.
“No, but we were only there for a few days. Just long enough to get outfitted and get a shot of translation bacteria.”
“An Elite is an especially beautiful female,” Dark told her. “Especially prized by Twin Kindred but to be honest, most Kindred prefer them, I think.”
“Really?” Anna had a hard time believing that. “Well, I wish I would have known—maybe I could have gone back to the Mother Ship and found somebody who felt that way. But on Aka’ja, I just kind of stuck out like a sore thumb, especially when I hung out with my friends. They were all so tiny and cute and delicate and I was…not.” She sighed. “Anyway, even after I got older and moved out of my mom and stepdad’s house, I still felt that way. I didn’t want to leave my mom—we’re really close—so I hung around and did college courses by remote. And I got a job at The Ale-Pail—it’s a kind of bar or pub there,” she explained.
Dark nodded. “Did you enjoy working there?”
“It was okay—it was something to do and a way to be independent and earn my own keep. But like I said, I was really lonely. And then one night in the middle of my shift, he walked in. Lazlo.”
Just saying the name out loud gave her a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach and she had to pause for a moment and concentrate on the colorful fish swimming by in the stream before she could go on.
“Was this Lazlo the one you thought you loved?” Dark asked.
Anna nodded. “Or maybe I should say he was the one I thought loved me. Right away, he zeroed in on me. Came and sat at my table and started flirting. He, uh…” She cleared her throat. “He made me feel pretty, you know? And he wasn’t a Kanji—he was Trebban. They’re pretty skinny but also really tall—almost as tall as you,” she added, looking up at him. “Do you have any idea how great it is to finally be able to look up at a man you’re interested in after being taller than every man in the room for the past eight years?”
“It’s not an experience I’ve had, though I suppose I can imagine it,” Dark said dryly. “Feeling smaller than a male makes you feel beautiful then?”
“I used to think so,” Anna said bitterly. “Beautiful, desirable feminine… Now it just makes me feel vulnerable and weak.” She thought of looking up at Gorn, knowing her captor could overpower her at any time, and felt her stomach churn.
“I’m sorry,” Dark said softly.
She shook her head and looked at him.
“You really are a great listener, you know? Whoever programmed you did a wonderful job.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you think so. So what happened with Lazlo?”
“Oh, I guess I got kind of off-track, huh?” Anna sighed. “Well, he made me feel beautiful and special like I hadn’t felt…well, ever, I guess. I mean, not from a guy. I knew my mom loved me and thought I was pretty, but it’s not exactly the same thing, you know?”
He nodded. “Go on. What did he—this Lazlo—do to you once he had gained your trust?”
Anna thought that for a robot he was certainly very perceptive.
“Well, first he took me out a few times. He even came to dinner to meet my parents. My mom was a little iffy about him but my stepdad, Brex, absolutely hated him. He took me aside after dinner and told me I needed to break it off immediately. When I asked why, he said it was because Lazlo smelled untrustworthy.” She gave an unhappy laugh that tasted bitter in her mouth. “At the time, of course, I thought he was crazy.”
“Kindred have very sharp senses,” Dark remarked. “It’s possible that this Lazlo had bad intentions towards you from the beginning and his body was putting out pheromones that telegraphed his true emotions.”
“Well, I guess that’s possible.” Anna nodded. “Anyway, I found out the hard way that my stepfather was right.”
“I take it you didn’t listen to his warning?” Dark asked quietly.
She shook her head. “No—it made me mad because Lazlo was the only guy who had ever paid attention to me. I wanted to believe he really loved me—loved me for myself, you know? And he was always such a perfect gentleman, even when we were alone. He never even wanted to have sex.” She looked down at her hands. “I wanted to have sex, of course. I was freaking twenty-four and still a virgin, you know? Of course I wanted to have sex.”
She didn’t know why she was telling the big Replicant all this—it definitely wasn’t something she would admit if he was a real guy. If he had been real, he would have been much too attractive to talk to so freely. He would be miles out of her league—she would have felt beneath his notice.
But since she knew he wasn’t real, no matter how real he seemed, she felt free to say things she’d never admitted to anyone before. It was cathartic somehow—freeing. And there was no judgment on the big Replicant’s face—he was still just listening quietly as she spoke.
“Anyway, later on I found out why he wouldn’t have sex with me,” she continued, looking down at her hands. “He wasn’t dating me—he was scouting me—to sell as a breeder on the Trollox breeding market. Apparently they’re always looking for humanoid females who have a big enough frame to carry their babies to term and virginity is considered a plus.”
She closed her eyes, remembering how pleased Gorn had been when he forced the first spreader into her and she had bled. He’d said something about getting his money’s worth—Anna couldn’t remember exactly. She’d been in too much pain and terror to really register the whole experience and she’d been trying to forget it ever since.
“I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Trollox breeding market,” Dark said, drawing her out of the awful memory. Anna looked up and saw he was frowning, his black eyebrows drawn down low over those startling bronze eyes. “That is shameful—it should be stopped.”
“It’s basically human trafficking—well, humanoid trafficking. They don’t only take human girls—they’ll take any that are big enough to accommodate a Trollox male’s, uh, equipment and carry their baby.”
Anna felt herself blushing, her cheeks heating with shame and she looked down at her hands.
“Anna…” Dark’s voice was serious, tense. “Is he doing that to you? Is Gorn taking you against your will?” His big hands were clenched into fists and his eyes were narrowed with tension.
She shook her head. “Not…that way. Not yet
, anyway. He says I’m not ready yet.”
His broad shoulders seemed to relax a little and his fists unclenched.
“Will you tell me if he tries? Will you call out for me?”
“Why?” Anna asked bitterly. “What can you do about it? No offense, Dark, but you’re just a Replicant, and I’ve seen him rip at least four Replicants apart since I’ve been here.” She shivered. “I can’t forget the sight of that bright pink blood squirting everywhere…”
“Just promise you’ll call for me,” he urged. “I won’t let him do that to you, Anna—I won’t let him rape you.”
She shook her head.
“He’s going to do it sooner or later. He tells me that after he gets me pregnant and I have his baby, he’ll let me go. But I don’t know…don’t know if I can trust him.”
“I would say categorically not.” Dark’s eyes were flashing again. “Have you thought about trying to escape?”
“Of course I have, but how?” she demanded. “I can’t drive a spaceship and even if I could, I have no idea how to get out of here. He brought me through a wormhole to get to this place. This…world.” She gestured aimlessly at the many floating islands hovering above the wasteland of a planet. “I have no idea how to get back to the worm hole or how to get home, even if I did. I’m stuck here—trapped.” She took a deep breath. “I just have to try to survive and hope Gorn will keep his word and set me free after…” She swallowed hard. “After he makes me pregnant and I have his son.”
“No one is going to do that to you,” Dark said firmly and this time his voice was almost a growl. “Just promise you’ll call for me, Anna. I won’t let him hurt you like that—I swear it.”
Anna shook her head. “I don’t understand—why do you care? You’re just a Replicant. Are you programmed to want to protect women or something?”
“You could say that.” Dark nodded. “I was given a belief that females must be revered and protected. I had…” He cleared his throat. “Some negative experiences with my last owner, who was a Mistress of Yonnie Six. But that has not changed my fundamental belief that females must not be harmed.”
Anna sighed. “You’re very sweet,” she said, patting his knee. “And I really appreciate you wanting to save me. But unless you can steal a ship and get us both out of here, I’m afraid I’m stuck.” She shook her head. “No—forget I said that. I know you can’t break your loyalty programming and run away from your master. No Replicant can.”
Dark didn’t say anything this time. Instead, he took her hand from his knee and laced their fingers together.
Anna’s hand tingled, just as it had the first time he’d touched her. He appeared to be looking down, studying the way their hands fit together with his long fingers intertwined with hers. At last he looked up at her, catching her eyes with his and holding them so that Anna felt she couldn’t look away.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” he said in a low, intense voice. “I swear it, Anna. I give you my oath—the Trollox will not harm you or take you against your will unless I’ve done all I can do to stop him and failed—unless I’m broken and bleeding at his feet.”
Anna’s breath seemed to catch in her throat.
“Oh Dark…I don’t know what to say,” she whispered. And she wanted to add, You’re so sweet but you’re too late. He’s already hurt me—already done so much against my will…
But that would mean telling him about the spreaders that her captor forced her to wear and she wasn’t willing to go there. Not now and probably not ever.
“Just say you’ll call for me,” he said tensely. “If he tries to rape you, call my name. I’ll hear you and come. I’ll stop him, no matter what.”
“I’ll call you,” she said, but she knew she wouldn’t. She liked Dark. Even if he was just a Replicant, he was a pretty amazing guy. She had never had a man so interested in defending her honor before. Well, except for Brex and that was different because he was her stepfather and it was kind of his job, in a way.
“Thank you, Anna.” He squeezed her hand lightly, a relieved look in his bronze eyes. “Thank you for trusting me. I know it can’t be easy after you’ve been so betrayed by males in the past.”
“But you’re not really male,” she pointed out. “I mean, you look male but you don’t have, uh, male equipment.”
She said it not to hurt his feelings—if Replicants had feelings—but to reassure herself. He couldn’t hurt her. Couldn’t do what Lazlo had done.
She remembered his nasty laughter and cruel words—the first true words he’d spoken to her once he got her alone and helpless in his ship, far from the mining colony where no one could help her and told her what her future would be…
“Where are we? Where is this place?” Anna had looked around uncertainly at the strange space port he had taken her to. She could see some of the details on the viewscreen of his ship, which he had docked in one of then many spaces of the docking bay. The port was lined with stalls and it was colorful in a garish kind of way with bright, crude banners flying to advertise the sellers’ wares. What concerned her were the words written on many of the banners.
“Big Girls Sold Here,” proclaimed one. “Extra large, healthy womb!” said another. “Heirs carried to term guaranteed!” a third bugled.
What in the world could they be selling, Anna wondered. Was this the alien equivalent of a horse stable and there were brood mares for sale here? Also, why were the customers so big? They were some kind of alien species she’d never seen before—they were as tall as trees and twice as massive. Some even had two heads! They were like ogres out of the fairy tales her mother had used to read her when she was little.
“What is this place?” she asked Lazlo again. “You said we were going on a little adventure—that we’d be back before anybody even knew we were gone.”
“Oh, it’s going to be an adventure all right, sweet thing.” Lazlo grinned at her, his bright green eyes narrowing.
Anna had always liked it when he called her that before but now the way he was looking at her was making her distinctly nervous.
“I don’t like this place,” she said. “I want to go home. Take me home, Lazlo!”
“This is your home now, sweet thing. At least until you get sold.”
“Sold? What are you talking about?” Anna demanded. She started to reach for the door latch to let herself out of his ship but Lazlo reached across her body and grabbed her wrist, twisting until she gasped in pain.
“I meant exactly what I said—this is the Trollox breeders market. They’re always looking for girls like you—girls to carry their brats to term.”
“Girls like me?”
Anna still couldn’t believe this was happening—couldn’t wrap her head around the situation. Lazlo had always been such a perfect gentleman the entire time she’d known him. He would barely even kiss her cheek or hold her hand—telling her that he respected her too much to take advantage of her. But now, here he was twisting her wrist until it felt it would break and talking about selling her in some horrible breeding market. What was going on?
“Yeah, sweet thing—girls like you. Big girls—fat girls,” Lazlo snapped. “I knew the minute I stepped into that shitty little dive bar you work in that you were perfect for this. Look at you…” He sneered at her. “You’re so fucking fat you can probably carry Trollox twins to term!”
“Don’t talk to me like that!” Anna tried to yank away from him but he only tightened his grip on her arm until she could feel the small bones of her wrist grind together painfully.
“I’ll talk to you any way I want, sweet thing. Did you really think I wanted you because I liked you? Because I was attracted to you?” He made a disgusted face. “Hell no—a fat bitch like you is only fit for one thing—Trollox breeding.”
“Let me go!” Anna begged. “Just take me home, Lazlo—please! However much you think you might get for me at this…this place, I know my stepfather would pay you more! Brex makes good money. He—”
�
��Brex!” He spat, as though her stepfather’s name tasted foul in his mouth. “Fucking Kindred! He nearly ruined this for me. You know he took me aside after our ‘date’ and told me if I didn’t leave you alone he’d fuck me up? I knew then I had to move fast or my fat little breeder was going to slip through my fingers.”
Anna had been crying at that point. She was horrified and humiliated and she hadn’t yet learned not to let the tears drown her.
“Please,” she begged. “Please, just take me home!”
“I’m taking you to the market,” Lazlo told her, his sharp green eyes flashing with greed. “But first I’m going to give you a little of what you’ve been begging for.”
Letting go of her wrist at last, he reached for her blouse and ripped it open.
“No! What are you doing?” Anna tried to get away from him, fumbling with the door latch again. But he had locked it somehow, making escape impossible.
“You’ve been all hot and heavy for it ever since we met, you slut,” he snarled. “What’s the matter sweet thing? Changed your mind?”
“Leave me alone—that was before. When I thought you cared—when I thought you loved me,” Anna protested. “I don’t want anything to do with you!”
“You should thank me.” Lazlo had been panting by that time, a mixture of lust and disgust moving across his long, bony face as he pawed at her clothes. “Before long, you’ll wish you had a good-looking male like me to breed you. When you’re pinned down to the bed with a fucking Trollox between your thighs…”
The idea seemed to excite him and he dragged her closer, despite her struggles.
“No—no!” But Anna knew it was a losing battle.
“After all,” Lazlo panted in her ear, “Just because you have to be a virgin, doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun, sweet thing. The Trollox won’t care if I have a little taste and the back door is tighter than the front anyway.”
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