by Megan Hart
Del nodded abruptly and let her step out of his embrace. Awkwardness filled the space between them and he cleared his throat to cover up the silence. "I'd better go. You going to be okay?"
She nodded, even though she bit her lip, and lifted her chin. "It might surprise you, Del, but I've been taking care of myself for a number of years."
He grinned at that. "I know."
Linna took his hand, squeezed it. "Whatever happens..." She trailed off, seeming uncertain. She took a deep breath. "I just want you to know I'm here for you. For whatever you might need."
Now something else grew between them, something hot and heavy and full of promise. She licked her lips and all at once Del was reminded of the taste of her. His cock stirred and he dropped her hand.
"Same here," he said, and knew his answer was way less than what he wanted to say, but stupidity locked up his tongue.
"You'd better go."
He looked out into the narrow hall. "Yeah. You need me, you find me, okay?"
She nodded firmly. "Yes. And if you need me..."
Before spending the past two days with her he couldn't have imagined a situation where a woman could help him, but after watching Linna kick some major ass, Del knew he could count on her for almost anything. Too much of everything actually. "Yeah."
Without another word, and without looking back, he left her there and went down the hall toward the crew berth. It was much the same as the other few ships he'd been on. Three rows of narrow bunks, three high, with little more than walking space between them. Rough blankets piled at the foot of the beds, and flat, stained pillows. The space stank of sweat and sour breath, and Del closed his eyes briefly at the stench.
"You'll bunk there," said a different man than either of the two who'd led them aboard the ship. "You'll have your time with her whenever she wants it. We usually split it up pretty evenly, unless she makes a special request."
The man continued, outlining other courses of duty, meal times, crew privileges, but Del stopped him. "What do you mean, time with her?"
The man stopped and looked surprised. "There's nine of us. We each gets a night with her. Unless she wants you more'n that, which might be possible, depending."
"Her? The captain?"
"Yeah." The man shook his head. "Ain't they tole you about this ship, man?"
Del's stomach clenched. "You mean she's hooked all of you to her?"
"Sheol, yeah! What the hell did you think, man? Captain Lunavoss won't take on any crew member she can't get her pleasure from. I'd have thought she'd made that pretty clear."
Del shook his head. "I knew it was a possibility. I didn't know it was a requirement."
The man grinned, showing crooked, stained teeth. "You the one who came on board with that doxy?"
"She's not a doxy."
"Whatever." The man shrugged. "Cap'n wouldn't take you on if you was behsherit to someone else. She'll be likely to call for you tonight. I'd be ready, if I was you."
"And if refuse?"
His answer seemed to strike the man funny, because he burst into guffaws of laughter. "You can't refuse the cap'n. That's mutiny, man. That can get you thrown off this bucket of bolts faster'n warp speed."
Del toward the door, intent on finding Linna and getting off this ship right away. He would find work for both of them, or for only him if it was necessary to support her, but he wasn't going to bind himself to that zona Lunavoss. Not for anything. Not even to get off this planet.
Before he could leave the crew berth, the ship shuddered, and he felt the distinctive stomach-dropping thud of lift-off. The whir of the turbines buzzed in his ears. He stumbled and reached for the wall to hold himself upright. In another moment, the ship bucked through the upper atmosphere and the ride smoothed. The grav-boosters kicked in, making him feel momentarily too heavy before they adjusted to outer space.
"Harah."
"You got a problem?" the crewman asked curiously. "It ain't so bad, you know. Sharing her. She treats us right, keeps us in work, doesn't make too many demands on us. One thing about Cap'n, I'll give 'er this. She likes her bedroom antics, yeah, but she's more than happy to leave a man alone between times. Hell, I'd be a ship monkey if I wasn't here, but this way I get laid regular, at least."
Del wiped a hand across his head and closed his eyes again. "Doesn't interest me, man. I just want passage on this ship. I don't want to work on it the rest of my life."
The crewman shrugged. "Then I guess you shoulda found another ship. She's gonna want you tonight. She usually wants the new ones right away."
Del turned to look at the man. "Any time she hasn't wanted the new one right away?"
"Not that I can think. Not unless he was sick or something."
Del wiped a hand over his head again, thinking. "How long until the first port?"
"You mean you signed on without even knowing our route?"
"We wanted to get Offworld as soon as we could. It doesn't matter where."
The man snorted. "We've got a delivery of artisilk and computer chips for a merchant in Yarushalim. You hit the jackpot, man. You're going home."
Chapter 7
Linna couldn't remember the last time she'd actually washed a dish. Out of necessity, eating had been a something she did alone, and living in the SexKennels meant she hadn't had the chance to accumulate many personal belongings. Even when she'd lived in her own house with Daniel, they'd had servbots to do all the cleaning.
"You grab it like this," said the woman in front of the sink as she held up a wad of soapy material. "Ain't you never seen a sponge before?"
"Of course I've seen a sponge," Linna replied calmly. "I just never used one."
The frowzy blonde missing several teeth frowned and made a loud exclamation in a language Linna didn't understand before switching to Universal. "What the hell?"
Linna took the sponge. "It's okay. I think I can figure it out."
The woman, who'd introduced herself as Garlinda, stepped aside in the narrow galley, but only barely. Her shoulder brushed Linna's. Oddly, the woman leaned over and sniffed.
"What?" asked Linna, frustrated.
"You smell like metal. You a metal head?"
Linna shook her head with a sigh. "My head's made of bone and skin, just like yours."
"Not like mine," Garlinda said with a cackle. She reached up to her temple and pressed. Her head opened up like a jewelry box, exposing the mass of tissue, blood, veins beneath. Her brain lay in her skull. It pulsed.
Linna swallowed heavily. "That looks painful."
With a shrug, her companion reattached her head. "Naw. Just more convenient that way, for when I want to change brains."
Linna wasn't sure she really wanted to know, but she couldn't help asking. "Change brains?"
"You Earthers," said the woman with a sneer. "Only born with one brain. Awfully stupid, if you ask me. What happens if the one you got gets ruined? Or you use it too much and wear it out?"
"I never heard of anyone wearing out their brain," Linna said wryly. "But if something bad happens to your brain, and you have the right amount of money, you can get a new one. Sort of."
"That happen to you?" Garlinda sniffed again, wrinkling her nose.
"Sort of."
Garlinda sniffed and pointed at the sink. "Well, metal head, those dishes don't wash themself, and Cap'n Lunavoss gets a bit testy if everything on this ship don't run to her specifications."
Linna thought of the tall, exotic-looking woman. "Lunavoss likes things her way, huh?"
"Captain Lunavoss," emphasized Garlinda. "Even her boys don't get to call her just by her name. It's Cap'n to them, and Cap'n to you."
Linna scrubbed furiously at the stack of metal dishes in the sink. "I'll make sure to remember that."
"See that you do." Garlinda grinned again. "Work's hard on the Oss, but she pays fair, and she treats her crew fair, too. Even the doxies get treated right."
"I can't imagine they have much work to do." Linna stacked more d
ishes. "What with the captain's harem and all."
Garlinda hissed between her missing teeth. "You moron. Not all the crew are Xanderran, you know. She's got others who ain't. She might be Saurani, but she's still only one woman. So they've got to have some other place to spend their pennies, so they don't get to fighting."
Linna had thought she'd heard every possible term for the sex act, but "spend their pennies" wasn't one of them. She didn't dare laugh at Garlinda, though, who was looking terribly serious. Instead, Linna concentrated on cleaning the entire sink of dishes while her companion stood back and watched.
"I don't know Saurani," she said.
Garlinda snorted and hooted, then slapped her knee. "Luckiest bitches in the Universe. Whether you figure that luck be good or bad is your choice, though."
Linna looked up from the pile of dishes. "What do you mean?"
Garlinda shook her head. "They're over-sexed. Can't never get enough. Got to have it all the time, several times a day. Goes off like a rocket when the ship drops into orbit, whatever, she's moaning and grinding. Takes up too much time, if you ask me. There's plenty of other stuff I'd rather spend my time doing."
Linna thought briefly of the Pleasurebots, whose sole function was sex. "It does sound awfully inconvenient."
Garlinda grunted. "You ain't seen him since you been on board, have you?"
The woman was perceptive. Maybe it was the exchangeable brain. Linna shook her head. "No. He's been busy."
Garlinda's laugh sent a chill down Linna's back. "Not as busy as he should be, I've heard."
Arms up to the elbows in suds, Linna turned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You didn't think he'd be able to turn her down, did you? I mean, he ain't bound to you, so he's up for grabs. You don't really think she took you both on just 'cuz she needed two pairs of hands, do you?"
Linna focused on the task in front of her. "Del is free to do what he wants. I'm pretty sure he has his reasons for not wanting to...sleep with the captain."
Garlinda grunted again, then spat into the dishwater. "I told you, he don't have much choice. She takes what she wants, that one. One way or another."
Linna's hands shook and her throat closed. Tears, brief but scalding, burned her eyes and she blinked furiously to clear them. "So, he's like the others now? Bound to her?"
"Not yet," the woman said. "Word is he aims to turn her down."
"He does?" She sounded too joyful. Linna quickly washed another dish. "I mean, I'm sure he does."
Garlinda handed Linna a clean towel to dry the dishes. "She only asks once."
"And if she's refused?"
"Then she takes."
That made Linna give an unamused chuckle. "It's pretty hard to take sex from a man who's not interested in giving it. What does she do? Tie them up?"
"Sure, puts 'em in the brig. Gives 'em an aphrodisiac pill until their balls are blue from it. Then she gets on 'em and rides to her heart's content."
Linna turned so fast she dropped the towel. "That's rape!"
"Never heard any man complain," said Garlinda. She waggled her bushy eyebrows. "Besides, once they're hooked up to her, they don't got much to say about it."
"She's walking a dangerous line." Linna forced herself to breathe more calmly. "Del told me his people sometimes kill each other to get free from a bad match. What happens to her if she forces herself on a man who doesn't want to be stuck with her?"
"Well, it ain't happened yet," said Garlinda, clearly not interested. "And I doubt it ever will. She's every man's wet dream, metal head. She keeps 'em happy."
But not Del, Linna thought grimly, turning back to the sink of now-clean dishes. Lunavoss wouldn't make Del happy. And she wouldn't get him, either, not against his will. Not if Linna could help it.
Del had toyed with the idea of feigning illness when called to the captain's quarters. On a ship this small, he wouldn't have had to pretend too hard. His stomach still heaved every time they jumped in and out of boost, which was frequently since the Oss couldn't maintain superspeed for long periods of time. He hated space travel. It was bred in Xanderrans to stay world-side. Kept them close to their mates and families.
He wasn't the only one to fight years of tradition and basic genetics, though. That much was evident by the number of Xanderrans on the Oss. Eight others, all behsherit to Lunavoss. It was enough to make him really sick.
The captain had made it clear to him she expected him to have sex with her tonight. To spend his penny, as the other crewmen joked. Spend a penny. There was a phrase he hadn't heard in a long time. Newcitizens were a lot more graphic about what they called sex. Fucking. Banging. Scrogging. Screwing. Horizontal Boogaloo. Knocking boots. Spending a penny sounded pretty innocent in comparison, but it wouldn't be.
Del didn't want to do any of those with Captain Lunavoss, who had breasts a man could die for and an ass that just wouldn't quit. He didn't want to fuck her if it meant never being able to fuck another woman again.
He hadn't bothered to ask any of the other crew members how they could stand not only being bound to such an avaricious bitch, but how they stood sharing their behshera. On Xanderra, it didn't matter how much one man might want another man's woman. Once a pair was bonded, they could only get aroused and orgasm with each other. It didn't matter what the mind told the body it wanted, the body just didn't comply.
The bitch of all of this was he knew that as soon as he walked into the captain's quarters tonight, she'd turn on the charm and his dick would rise up like she had it on a leash. She was more than just attractive. The captain was sex on wheels. She knew how to use every inch of her smoking hot body to perfection.
Del straightened his back. He didn't have to be led by his prick. He'd managed not to make love to Linna, a woman he actually wouldn't mind being with. "Fuck."
The Newcity word shot from his mouth and earned him a few raised eyebrows. He bent back to the power grid he'd been ordered to repair and clamped his lips shut. If he'd made love to Linna, there would be no question about him spending anything with Lunavoss, much less his penny. He'd be behsherit to Linna now. Able only to make love to her, genetically predetermined to protect her and their offspring at all costs. Sheol, he might even be in love with her.
Del cursed again and wrenched the stray power grid wires back into place while he soldered them tight. He wanted Linna. Maybe even enough to spend the rest of his days with her, or at least as many as she'd be willing to grant him. He'd screwed up.
But then Lunavoss wouldn't have agreed to take them on board, and they'd probably still be stuck back in Oldcity.
"Harah."
"You having a problem?" the small, thin man asked.
Sarken, Del remembered.
"Yeah."
Sarken craned his neck to look at the power grid. "You do good work. We'll be glad to have you."
"I'm not staying."
Sarken chuckled. His head only came up to Del's shoulder, but his arms were ropy with muscle. Del looked at the pattern of blue and black inked on Sarken's forearms. Xanderran.
"Let me give you some advice, man. Just do what she wants. It's not so bad."
Del fixed the last wire and closed the power grid's cover. "Sorry, man. Being behsherit to someone I don't--"
"Love?" Sarken laughed, showing teeth white against his dark skin. "What is love? Clean clothes, hot food, a bed of your own and spending your penny."
Del gave the other man an even stare. "Not for me."
Sarken shook his head. "Man, even at home most people worry less about love and more about getting along."
"Do you get along with Lunavoss?"
Sarken shrugged and looked away, his eyes unreadable. "Sure. Like I said, man, it's better to just go along. She'll get what she wants from you, anyway, and once she does...nothing else seems as important."
"That's the virus. It has nothing to do with your head." Del stripped off his heavy work gloves and hung them up next to the power grid. "You're letting your pr
ick think for you, man."
"Like I have a choice," hissed Sarken bitterly under his breath. The look he gave Del was fierce. Territorial. Challenging.
Del's nostrils flared, but he didn't clench his fists. The smaller man was reacting, but Del didn't have to respond. They weren't on Xanderra now.
"I loved a woman once," Sarken continued. His eyes, a pale blue rare on Xanderra, flashed. "Her name was Kaveen. I wanted her so bad I thought my balls were going to fall off. She wasn't sure she wanted to be behsherit. She was worried what would happen if we got tired of each other. So she wanted to wait a little longer and make sure we were right for each other."
Del thought of his own decision to leave Xanderra rather than take a behshera. "It happens."
Sarken bared his teeth. "She died, the zona. Left me alone on Xanderra with nothing but the house we would've lived in together and memories. I never even got to make love to her. She left me! So I went Offworld. Ran into some trouble on Sandit-7. Got hooked up with Cap'n. I've been with her ever since."
"You don't love her."
Sarken's grimace grew wider, fiercer. "Sheol, no, man. But now I'm bound to her, along with the other seven unlucky fucks who needed work and passage on her ship. Believe me when I tell you this, man. Give her what she wants. It's not worth having her take it."
Sarken lifted up his sleeveless shirt and turned to show Del his bare back. The surface was marked and studded with scars and welts. Most of them Del recognized as battle scars. He had a lot of his own. Some of them, though, a series of three punctures in three lines, didn't look like fight marks.
"What did she do to you?"
Sarken yanked down his shirt and looked around before answering. "Injections of liquefied colare root."
"Lovevine?" Del asked, giving the plant its common name. "That's poison."
"Or an aphrodisiac, depending on the dose. She's had a lot of time to experiment with it."
"Why?" Del asked. "Why not just find men who want her? She's got the body for it."
Sarken shrugged. "She wants more than a man's body. She wants his heart, mind and soul. She wants slaves."