by Dixon, Ruby
JADE
Just because I'm protecting the sleepers doesn't mean they don't creep me out.
Walking through the cargo bay reminds me of walking through a morgue. Not that I've done a lot of that, of course. It's just that if I had, this is what it'd feel like. Passing container after container of sleeping people with waxy-looking skin, chests unmoving, eyes closed. There's so damn many of them, too. It's just row after row of bodies. Of people, stolen from their homes and dragged out to god-knows-where for a horrible fate.
It's one reason we've been so reluctant to leave the Buoyant Star behind. We had a taste of that horrible fate. We know what it's like when you wake up.
Adiron is with me, though. I passed through the cargo bay door with no issues, and he accompanied me. Of course, he immediately pried open the door panel and started ripping out wires, and now the thing hangs open permanently. I tell myself that it's fine. That Adiron's destructiveness comes from a good place. The next time these sleepers wake up, I want them to be in a much better, safer place.
I wander through the rows, not peering at the faces that stare out from the windowed pods. I tried to look at most of them, once. The sight of all those human faces—young and female—was far too upsetting. There's a mixture, of course. There's the occasional male slave, and a few that are from other planets, but the overwhelming majority are human females. I have an idea of what they're going to be used for.
Adiron doesn't share my reluctance, though. He wanders through the hold, rubbing a bit of condensation off each window and peering inside. He stares at each one with a little “hmph” and then goes on to the next. He does this for a while, offering a little bit of commentary as he walks.
"Praxiian," he says about one. "Probably a gladiator."
"Brown skin," he says about another. "Like you. Pretty."
"Pregnant," he says about yet another pod. He pauses over another and then turns back to one he just passed. "I thought humans didn't do cloning?"
"We don't," I tell him, edging to his side. I automatically reach for his belt, as if holding onto him will somehow fix the sense of unease I feel when looking at the sleepers. He tucks me close against him, his tail looping around my waist in an alien semi-hug. "Why do you ask?"
He points to a pod. "This one has the same face as that one." He points at the one behind him. "Do you think they're cloning the humans they capture?"
His question sends terror rocketing through me. Is it possible? Could something like that have happened while I was asleep? Is there another Jade somewhere out there having a miserable time in space? It's a horrible concept, and one that's never occurred to me. I peer at the window of the pod Adiron points at and study the sleeping woman's face. She's got red hair and a light dusting of freckles, big eyebrows and a small nose. I go to look at the other one…and breathe a sigh of relief. While they look similar, this one's face is rounder, the eyebrows less pronounced, her freckles less abundant. "They're sisters, I think. This one's not as freckled as that one."
Adiron leans over, studying the girls, and then gives me a sheepish look. "This is the part where you chastise me for thinking all humans look alike, right?"
I shake my head. "I'm too relieved to even give you a hard time. And I'm sure I'd probably run into the same scenario with your people. Alien features can be tricky."
"Especially humans," he points out, and taps my nose. "You all have such small faces and big, sad eyes."
I bat his hand away. "Very funny. We do not."
"You do too."
Hands on hips, I give him an irritated look. "Is that why you fell in love with me at first sight, then? Because I looked like every other human you've seen?"
"No, because you're much fiercer and your eyes aren't sad, just full of smarts." Adiron puts his hands to his chest. "And you have great big—"
I smack him lightly.
He just laughs. When he notices I'm not laughing with him, he takes my hand and tugs me close, pulling me against his chest. His big hand cups my face. "What's wrong, love?"
I shrug, and then because I'm weak, slide my arms around his waist and press my cheek to his chest. Being held by Adiron makes everything just a little bit better. "I don't like being in here. It's creepy and it makes me wonder what they did to me when I was asleep."
The big alien strokes my jaw. "You're with me now. I won't let anything happen to you ever again. I promise."
It seems like an awfully big promise to make, but I'll take it. I snuggle against his chest, letting him pet me for a few moments. "Let's just hurry up and get what we need, all right? You can come stare at them another time."
"Of course." He bends down and presses a kiss atop my head, right into my springy hair. "Where are the empty pods at?"
I take his hand. "Come on. I'll show you."
I lead him through the maze of coffin-like pods. I can tell that Adiron really wants to peek at all of them, his natural curiosity getting the better of him. It's because of me that he doesn't wander, and I appreciate that. He stays close to my side, as if he thinks I’ll need the moral support.
I gesture at the open coffins. They're at the far end of the bay, scattered into a heap. "Voilà."
"Perfect." He doesn't head right for them, though. Instead, he puts a hand on the back of my neck in an oddly possessive gesture and rubs it lightly. "If you want to go, you can. I know these bother you and it might take me a little time to get the components I need."
I love that he asks, almost as much as I love the heavy hand on my neck. It's like after last night, he's decided to claim ownership on me, and I am absolutely not upset about it in the slightest. In fact, I rather like it. The next month stretches out ahead of us with endless possibility. Him on top. Me on top. In the shower. Me on my knees. Me on the table. Me splayed out on the captain's station on the bridge again.
Endless. Possibilities.
So I reach to his side and give his tail a teasing little stroke, because I know it makes him all riled up. "I'll be all right," I promise him. "Just work as fast as you can, please."
"After that tail pull? You bet I will." He growls low in his throat, picks me up, plants a hot, fervent kiss on my lips, and then sets me atop the nearest stasis pod. "You sit here. I'll handle things."
"Right on someone's face?" I joke, wriggling a little. It's disturbing to me that I'm sitting atop a coffin that someone's asleep in. I know it's not really a coffin. I know they're not really asleep…but I can't shake the feeling that whoever's in there is going to be highly aware of my ass on their property and not approve.
Adiron just grins at me, all boyish charm. "I'm sure she won't mind."
As he walks away, I peer at the window between my thighs and shudder. "I think it's a he. A really ugly he, too."
That gets Adiron's attention. He immediately changes course, heading back to me, and leans over to peer at the window. I obligingly spread my thighs as widely as possible so he can see what's underneath, and it occurs to me that there's a sexy pun or two to be had here. I look up at him, ready to crack a joke, and the look on his face makes me pause. "What's wrong?" I ask.
He draws up a little, giving me an odd glance. "You've…never felt the need to open these, right?"
"No, never. I thought it was kinder to let them sleep. Why?"
He taps on the stasis pod I'm perched on. "Because this one? This one is a problem. A big, keffing problem."
52
ADIRON
Every time I turn around, this keffing ship is giving us a new, unpleasant surprise.
Jade looks up at me with those wide, gorgeous eyes, no idea that she's seated atop the nastiest, most brutal killer I've ever seen.
Here I've been joking about opening the pods or killing the inhabitants to ensure our survival, but I wasn't truly serious. Now, though, after seeing Crulden the Ruiner, I want to space every keffing pod in this hold and forget we ever stepped foot in here.
I pull my mate off the pod and tuck her behind me. "Don't sit on
that one."
"What is it?" She asks. "What's the problem?"
I point at the pod. "Under no circumstances are you to ever, ever EVER open that one, all right? I don't care if you open all the other ones in this hold…" I pause. "Well no, actually, I do care. If there's one gladiator in this mix, there's bound to be others. In fact, we're not opening any of these. Ever again. We'd be doing the universe a favor if we just spaced every single non-human here—"
Jade grabs my hand and strokes it. "Slow down. We're not spacing anyone. Why are you panicking? Breathe, all right? Just breathe." Her fingers brush over my skin in a calming motion. "I'm right here. Let's go sit down AWAY from the pods and talk."
I let her lead me to the far side of the cargo bay, and when she indicates I should sit on an empty crate, I do, and immediately tug her into my lap. She doesn't protest, just looks up at me with that concerned expression. Jade reaches up and brushes my hair off my forehead, watching me and waiting for an explanation.
"That alien in that pod is bad news. Very bad news." I hold her close, latching my tail around her just in case she tries to slip out of my grasp. "I know you think everyone deserves a chance, but Crulden the Ruiner absolutely does not. If we want to do the galaxy a favor, we'll shove that pod out the cargo bay doors and forget it was ever here."
Her small dark brows furrow together. "Is he like…Hitler? What alien race is he?"
"I don't know who Hitler is, but that male in that pod is a splice. He's not any specific race but a creature born in a lab, made from all the worst bits of a bunch of races so they could make a killing machine. He's a gladiator. Kind of. He got banned for being too brutal for the vid audiences…and that should tell you everything you need to know about him." I don't want to tell her that I've seen a few vids and had to turn them off myself. Of Crulden eviscerating his opponents and feasting on the pieces. Of him breaking through to the next match and killing those gladiators and their handlers, too, before his team could get him under control. Of him doing terrible, terrible things to his “prizes” that he won, and that those prizes were usually small, fragile females.
Kind of like the one in my lap right now.
I remember hearing the news that Crulden the Ruiner had been banned from even the most uncouth of gladiator arenas. He was impossible to control, and so destructive that other slave owners complained he was destroying their stock. He disappeared off the circuit five years ago or so, and I thought he'd been quietly put down by his owner.
Turns out he was sold and tossed into stasis.
I will die before I let her open up that particular stasis pod.
"Never go near it again," I tell Jade urgently. "Do you hear me? I don't care how safe you feel with me. That safety is a lie. The moment someone touches that pod, you get out of the room. You get off the keffing station and you head to the farthest galaxy you can find, all right? You do not want to be anywhere near that thing when it awakens." I cup her face. "And if you're wise, you'll let me space it right now." I think of her and the humans, sitting innocently on this ship for three long years with this monster in the hold. She's keffing lucky no one got curious and decided to wake it up.
The fact that the other pirates took other slaves and not this one speaks volumes. Crulden would be worth a fortune in the right hands, but he'd need a lot of handlers. A LOT of them, and expendable ones to boot.
It occurs to me that this ship might not have been abandoned for the wrong reasons…but for the right ones. Like say, trying to cover up the family's slave trade. And trying to dump slaves that will garner too much attention. Suddenly Straik's retreat looks less churlish and far more sinister.
Jade caresses my face, trying to ease some of the stress weighing me down. "Look, we won't go anywhere near it, all right?" Her voice is soft and soothing. "I have no desire to wake any of the sleepers up because we don't have the food to spare. We'll let him and all the others keep on sleeping, and when we get somewhere safe, we make sure he's handled appropriately. It's going to be fine."
"Right. Sure." I hold her closer. Maybe after she's asleep tonight, I'll sneak in here and—
"And you're not going to do anything to that stasis pod when I'm sleeping," Jade says calmly, stroking my hair off my brow. "You're going to leave it alone, because it's not our responsibility to determine who lives and who dies. Our responsibility is just to get these people to safety. It's not our place to determine their fates."
It's like she can read my mind. "I wouldn't do that," I lie.
She laughs, the sound light and sweet. "Oh yes you would. You're a terrible liar, Adiron. I can see it in your face. We need to focus on the ship, remember? Two rooms with climate control and no others? And then we'll have our cozy nest and we won't have to worry about this pod or any others." She runs her fingers over my face in a way that makes my cock twitch, and I love the soothing, gentle sounds of her reasonable words. "Even if he woke up somehow, there'd be no environment, right? So the best thing we can do to protect ourselves is to do what we originally planned and get those wires."
I lean in and kiss her brow. "You're so reasonable. Have I told you how sexy that is?"
"I'm almost positive you have, yes." She tilts her head up and smiles at me. "Now, let's get this done so we can go, all right?"
I nod, forming a plan in my mind. I get the wires needed. Check the other pods to ensure that no other monstrous splices or gut-churning criminals are hidden amongst the sleepers.
Then I barricade the door to the cargo bay. Just in case.
Then turn off the climate control to most of the ship except for the end of the hall. We can seal off a portion of the living area, the room closest to the kitchen quarters, and dwell there.
Then barricade the closed-off portions of the ship. Again, just in case.
Then…take my woman to bed and kef the daylights out of her. Because that's how every day needs to end from now on. A nice, solid afternoon of work, followed by sweaty, toe-curling matings that will make her forget everything but my name.
Gonna be a busy day, but I'm sure I can squeeze it all in. I kiss Jade again, then set her down and hop to my feet. Time to get to work.
53
JADE
I don't like how worried Adiron gets about the sleeper. He makes sure to check all the other pods, and when he doesn't find another that concerns him, I can see the relief move through his body. For happy, carefree Adiron to be so bothered, it must be bad.
I give him space to work through his mood. I remain close because he seems to relax more if I'm near, but I'm quiet so he can focus. Adiron works tirelessly, extricating tiny wires from complex-looking systems, and when two of them break, he swears a blue streak. After hours pass, though, he has enough to satisfy him, and we head back to the main living area of the ship.
I say nothing as he barricades the cargo bay. He forces the doors shut again, then drags a metal panel off of the wall and hammers it into the doorway, forcing it into the space even as the metal creaks and groans in protest. He picks up another tool, and when it lights up with fire, I realize it's a blowtorch. Adiron solders the door, a look of grim determination on his face. I've never seen him like this. Now I'm the one that's worried.
We close down area after area in the ship and I watch as Ruth's quarters are closed up, then my own. I've taken everything personal out of them, stacking them neatly in Alice and Helen's shared room, which has been elected to be our new sleeping quarters. It's the largest room, with two beds because Helen doesn't like to be by herself. It's also got the largest connected lavatory, and is only a short jaunt to the mess hall. I tidy things up in the room as Adiron replaces wires out in the hallway and then solders more of the doors shut. I get that we're making ourselves a small, protected bubble, but I can't help but worry that we're sealing ourselves in.
One problem at a time, just like Adiron always tells me. I need to stop borrowing trouble.
So I keep a bright smile on my face and maneuver the two single beds togethe
r into one large one, and spread the blankets over it. There's no sense in playing coy or pretending like we're not going to fuck like bunnies every single night that we're together. Why deprive myself? We might never leave this ship, so why not spend every minute I can in sheer bliss with a big, handsome man who loves to go down on me?
I wonder if anyone's ever returned the favor and gone down on him?
The moment the idea hits me, I'm in love with it. Adiron's certainly been a giving lover so far, and I like the thought of going down on him and easing some of that tension that's just rippling through him today. He needs a distraction. I need a distraction.
Sounds perfect to me.
So I think about how I can set the scene as he works in the hallway. More noodles, of course. He's going to be hungry after all that work. Then I can persuade him to take a nice, hot shower. Then I can innocently suggest that I dry him off, and then start the seducing. I dig through the small amount of clothing I have to call my own and pull out my ridiculous-looking dress again. He liked this, because he liked my cleavage. Once the bedroom is all set, I head into the lavatory and primp a little, because I want to look nice for him. I fluff and tease my natural hair until it puffs prettily around my face and frames it. I lick my finger and shape my eyebrows as best I can, and bite my lips so they flush and plump up. I look sexy, I decide. Sexy and womanly and ready for a fucking.
Or a dick-sucking. Knowing Adiron, one will probably follow the other, and I'm totally good with that.
I study myself in the mirror, trying to decide if there's more I can do to sex up my appearance. It's been a long time since I had a boyfriend. I was going through a dry spell back on Earth long before I got snatched up by aliens, and I feel rusty and out of practice on getting ready for a date…even if it's just a blowjob date.
An idea hits me.
I lift my skirt and study my bush. I keep things neatly trimmed, but I've never given it much thought. Adiron is completely bare, though, and I wonder if he'd like it more if I was bare, too? It might be a nice surprise for him, something to make him suck in a breath and get all distracted. Something that makes him lose his control.