by Lily Thomas
“Let me go!” She barked, as she wiggled in their grips. She wasn’t going to be taken without a fight. Her mother was waiting for her. Samantha had a time table to meet. If her mother died before she escaped, she’d come back to take care of the captain or hire Talia to kill him.
Looking through the airlock she found the captain smiling at her evilly, as he wiggled his fingers at her, in a gesture of goodbye.
“Why?!” She yelled at him. Sure, she kneed him in the balls, but was that really enough for him to hand her over to aliens?
He gave her a shrug of his shoulders. “Remember to enjoy your journey with the Frirens!”
She growled at him. “I’ll be sure you get yours someday.”
“Unlikely. The Frirens deal within the black market. You won’t be seen again, in all probability.” He said, right before the doors to the airlock clicked closed, blocking her view of the captain.
Now she was alone with the Frirens.
“What are you going to do with me?” She looked around her at their faces, but they were like stone. There were no expressions for her to read. Instead, they pulled her along their ship’s corridor with blueish lights illuminating their way.
Either her translator wasn’t working or they were ignoring her. How was she going to survive without a working translator? Her heart rate spiked, and she felt like throwing up. This was supposed to be a simple visit to her ailing mother.
If the Frirens dealt in the black market, then they would probably sell her as a slave or sell her to someone with grudges against humans. No wonder the captain had told them she would draw a good price.
Struggling even harder Samantha found herself becoming desperate. “Please, let me go. I’ll pay you twice as much as he did. I have money saved.” She didn’t want to spend her money on freeing herself, but she was desperate to get to her mother. She still had her job, and she could make the money back, it might take some time, but she could do it.
“Please.” She begged, as they dragged her further into the ship.
Still they didn’t listen or understand her. Before she registered what she was doing, she kicked out a foot and slammed it into the back of one of the aliens’ knees. He went down with a yelp, but the one holding her still maintained his firm grip on her arm.
Bending he lowered his face to hers and gave a growl, as he told her something she couldn’t understand. She gulped, as his hot breath washed over her face. She couldn’t afford to be killed, not when her mother depended on her for medical care.
Samantha bent her head and looked down at her feet. Now really wasn't the time to fight. What was she going to do? Run back to the ship with a captain that either wanted her in his bed or dead? She had no weapon, and she was outnumbered. Kicking one of the Frirens hadn’t been her brightest moment, and now she could only hope she wouldn’t be punished.
The Friren holding her growled to the one on the ground. He finally had an expression on his face, and it was one of pure disgust. It must be because the other Friren had been caught off guard by her, a small useless human woman. She almost wanted to smile, but refrained. She might be useless human, but she had a reason to survive this ordeal.
They stepped over the fallen Friren, as he dragged her further down the corridor. They turned a corner, he opened a door, and then threw her inside. The door closed, as she whipped around to face her captor.
Samantha banged her fists against the metal door. “Let me out! Please! Let me out! I need to get to Drein.” A sob choked her. Her mother was going to die of worry, if Samantha didn’t show up on time.
Blinking several times to adjust her eyes to the low light level Samantha found the room occupied by several species of women. From where she stood, she appeared to be the only human in the group, but there was a wide variety of women sitting and standing around the large room.
Samantha couldn’t even name them all. There were some aliens in the room she hadn’t even seen before. These Frirens must’ve been traveling around quite a bit to collect such a variety.
Finding a spot to sit with her back against a wall was a challenge, but she eventually found one. If the Frirens came back in, she wanted to be able to see them at all times.
If the Frirens did cover a lot of space, there was a good chance they would take her far away from her mother. She bit her lip and worried it between her teeth. An opportunity would have to present itself at some point. She hadn’t been here long enough to lose hope of an escape. All she had to do was bide her time and not get into any trouble.
Easier said than done, though. Samantha wasn’t known for her patience, especially now. She gave an almost inaudible groan. Her mother was going to freak out, when Samantha didn’t show.
Maybe that would be a good thing. Her mother would alert the authorities about her daughter’s disappearance, but that was assuming her mother was in good enough condition to know Samantha was late.
Then again, if she was sold as a slave, she might find herself in the hands of a gentle captor. It was a slight chance, but she needed to keep slivers of hope alive. Once she thought escape was impossible, all hope would be lost.
“What are you?” An alien woman plopped down beside her.
“Human and you?” She eyed the unknown alien sitting beside her.
“I’m Triel.” The woman sent her a genuine smile.
“It’s good to know my translator is working.” Samantha tapped the side of her head, where it had been inserted a few years ago. “I wasn’t able to understand the Frirens, and I worried it might be broken.”
“None of us appears to have the ability to understand them.”
“Do you know where they’re taking us?” Samantha asked. Knowledge could be used just as deadly as a weapon.
“Probably to be sold at auction. Or they might already have buyers. Sometimes they go in search of what a buyer wants.” She eyed Samantha. “Did they kidnap you from your ship?”
“Sort of.” Samantha grimaced. “The captain of the ship I was traveling on handed me over for money.” She recalled the bag one of the Frirens had given him. What had been in it? She assumed it was money, but it was rare for anyone to transfer tangible money, these days. Not that it mattered. Either way, he traded her for something he wanted.
“Then you probably already have a buyer waiting for you.”
Which was worse? An auction over her or a buyer who already wanted a human woman? Samantha had no idea. Hopefully, someone who was willing to wait for her didn’t want her harmed or killed.
Samantha looked over the alien woman in the ill-lit room. She had pointed ears and crimson ringed pupils. Other than that she could pass as a human, with her shoulder length blonde hair.
“What about you?” Samantha wanted someone to talk to, someone to befriend, since she didn’t know how long she might be trapped in this room.
“They attacked my ship and killed my guards.”
“Your guards?” Samantha eyed her. “Why did you have guards?”
“Yes.” She smiled, showing off pointed white teeth. “I’m a princess of Trielia. Which means they were probably sent by my step-mother. She would want to get rid of me, before I reached the appropriate age to take over leadership of my people.”
Samantha looked her over. Come of age? How young might this alien woman be? Was she just a girl? “How old do you have to be before claiming your… throne?”
“Twenty-six orbits.”
“Does that mean you’re… an adult?”
The alien woman laughed. “Yes, of course. We reach maturity by sixteen orbits.”
“Similar to humans then, assuming your orbits are similar to our years.”
Samantha actually found their conversation to be somewhat relaxing. It kept her mind from racing away with unpleasant thoughts. She still didn’t know what the Frirens were going to want from her.
Chapter 2
What felt like days passed, and she found herself panicking all over again. Mostly she worried about her mother’s st
ate of health. Her mother was going to be expecting her, at some point, and she didn’t want her fretting, while she was so ill.
But what was she going to do? She wasn’t some warrior who could go rampaging through the ship. Where ever they were taking her, she would just have to pray her “master” would understand. Hell, she’d be someone’s slave, as long as her mother was in good health and getting the care she required.
The door opened to their dimly lit room, and Samantha held a hand up to her eyes to shield them from the light streaking inside.
The Frirens were back. Who were they going to take? They’d done this before. They’d come, tie up a woman, and then leave. The woman would never be seen again. Samantha assumed this meant they’d been sold to whoever wanted them.
As one Friren guarded the door, another stepped forward, and his eyes skimmed over the women huddled around each other. They were all losing hope of an escape or rescue.
The Friren’s silver eyes landed on Samantha, and he reached down grabbing her arm. In vain, Samantha used her other hand to pry his grip loose, but he only tightened his grip, until she gasped in pain.
Yanking her to her feet he turned her and shoved her in the direction of the doorway. Stumbling forward Samantha felt her pupils dilate hard, as the light washed over her. Her eyes had become accustomed to the low light in the holding room.
She gulped down her emotions. Now was a time to remain calm, in case she had the opportunity to bolt into an escape pod. But her luck wasn’t going to hold. The Friren grabbed her wrists, and then clamped cuffs on them, which then clinked together behind her back.
Samantha gave a pull on them, but found they were magnetic, and she didn’t have the strength to pull them apart.
“Please. You can still let me free. And I’ll pay you whatever you want. I have lots saved.” Samantha tried to bribe her way to freedom, but they don’t say a word to her. How much were they getting for her, that they didn’t think she could pay more?
Instead, they dragged her through the corridors of the ship, until they reached another door. Then they pushed her behind them, but still kept a hand on her upper arm. They may have her wrists tied, but they still didn’t trust her not to make a wild dash, which was probably best.
The door slid open, and Samantha leaned up on her tiptoes to peer over the shoulders of her captors to see more Frirens within the room. Were the new Frirens buying her?
Her captors walked into the room, bringing her along with them. Then they all started to talk, well, growl with slight whistles. Her translator was unable to make sense of anything being said.
Well, hell. She should’ve pitched in more money to buy a better translator, but she never thought she’d be taken captive by aliens. Who could’ve predicted this? Her trip was supposed to be a simple visit to her mother.
Were they bartering over her?
Back and forth the Frirens would talk, as they pointed to her. Eventually, they seemed to reach an agreement on her payment. A tablet was exchanged, and she assumed the new Frirens were transferring over money.
The Friren holding her arm pushed her towards the new ones. Her heart rate sped up. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be bought. Looking up she met the icy stares of her new masters.
Hopefully, they were just looking for a new household slave. Cleaning a house wasn’t a horrible position. She didn’t even want to think what other reason they might want a human for. She’d never dated, let alone been with, an alien man before.
Her new masters took her arm and pulled her after them.
“Wait! No. Where are you taking me? Why are you taking me?” Samantha squirmed in their grasp. What if they were taking her farther from her mother? Who knew how much time her mother had left.
The Frirens stopped, and one of them pulled out a syringe of some sort. He approached her, and she tried to back up, but the other Friren held her tightly in his grasp.
“No! No!” But they ignored her protests and pressed the device against her arm. At first, nothing happened, and then black dots swam across her vision. Her head became foggy and eventually everything just went black.
Blinking she found her vision blurry, but with time her eyesight cleared, and she looked around. Her mind was still a bit dazed, but she found herself strapped into a seat on a small vessel. It appeared to be just one cabin, and she saw the two Frirens who bought her in the cockpit.
Samantha grimaced, as she found a crick in her neck. She didn’t know how many hours or days had passed, but at least she was awake now.
The drone of the vessel’s engines grated on her sensitive ears. They had clearly drugged her, and she was facing the vexing after effects. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long for it to fade away.
Looking out the windows of the vessel she saw a planet rising up before them. It almost looked like Earth, but there appeared to be only one massive landmass surrounded by an amazing amount of water.
Water was one of the trickier things to get onto a terraformed planet that didn’t already have water. Samantha shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking about terraforming planets. She was in a dangerous situation with no knowledge of what the future might hold for her.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Clearly, she’d have to wait a bit longer, before the drug wore off enough for her to regain her ability of speech.
The planet didn’t bring any names to mind though. Was this their home planet? Or were they just the middle men who were delivering her to the buyer?
She hated the thought that she was about to have an owner. It sent a shiver through her body, creating goosebumps on her sensitive flesh. Maybe there was a reason why Earth was so mistrusting of aliens. Kidnapping a woman wasn’t something she’d condone. It was rare to see an alien on Earth, because the human race was scared their home planet would end up destroyed.
Samantha had never agreed with those regulations, but now look where she was. Her hands were tied, and aliens were taking her to god knows where.
One of the Frirens looked back at her and smiled, when he saw she was awake. She shivered again, as his frigid eyes inspected her. She had a bad feeling about this, sitting like a rock in her stomach. There was a little voice telling her she was going to be a lot more than just a household slave. His inspection of her body seemed to point in the direction of something more intimate.
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away swiftly. There was no way she was going to start blubbering in front of these aliens. They hadn’t won yet. There was still time for her to escape.
Looking down she discovered her arms had been tied in front of her, and they were sitting in her lap. But she couldn’t feel them! As panic surged through her, she whipped them about, until she got some blood flow back. If these Frirens weren’t careful, they were going to lose part of what they bought.
Glancing about frantically she tried to see if it would be possible for her to grab something sharp. Now that her hands were in front of her, she’d be able to use them better. At some point, she was going to need a weapon. Not that she really knew how to use any weapon, other than a plasma pistol. Maybe if it came down to a fight, her instinct would kick in.
As they got closer to the planet, the vessel was readied to enter the atmosphere. One of the Frirens rose and strode over to her with another syringe in his hand.
Not again!
She wanted to know what was going on around her, not unconscious and subject to her captors’ moods.
Shaking her head Samantha tried to make it difficult for him to stick her, but he grabbed her arm, steadied her, and then stuck her with the needle.
Slowly, the fight was sucked out of her, as the drug took her under.
Cracking open her eyes she spread her fingers, each hand laying by one of her sides. There was something soft under her. A fur? A blanket?
It felt nice, whatever it was. A lazy smile spread over her lips, and then as the drug wore off, it turned to a frown.
Everything t
hat happened came rushing back causing her to feel dizzy and unsure. Where was she now? Was she to be a sex slave? Maybe she was on her master’s bed awaiting his arrival, even now.
Goosebumps raced across her skin. She didn’t like the idea of being anyone’s play thing. She was an intelligent woman. Samantha had gone to some of the best scientific schools in the galaxy, not because her family could afford them, but because the schools had seen her smarts and wanted her in their programs.
She knew she had to survive, at any cost, but could she really give up her body? Her mother would revolt at the very idea, but she wouldn’t get the chance, if Samantha never got back to her.
Nodding her head, she decided she’d do what it took to get herself out of here and stay alive.
Rising she found she really was on top of a bed, but it was more like a cot. Nothing special, and she doubted her master would want to sleep on such a flimsy thing. It wasn’t exactly made to withstand a good dose of lovemaking.
Looking beside her there was a rose pink dress laid out. It appeared to be her size, but the material was wispy at best. It was like silk, but not quite. Sure, it would cover her body from sight, but it was going to be form fitting and leave nothing to the imagination. If she was ever cold, everyone around her would be able to tell. This material wasn’t about to cover up the pinpricks of her nipples, that was for sure.
Obviously, she was going to be a sex slave. This dress spoke volumes. It was made to entice anyone standing around her.
She got off the bed and took a look around. Samantha was sure she’d be forced into that dress one way or the other. They’d come back for her, and she didn’t want them dressing her. It was better she was the one to dress herself. No need to get naked in front of the Frirens.
But first she wanted to take a look around the room. Other than the bed and the dress, there was a full length mirror hanging on one wall.
Samantha saw no door knobs or key pads anywhere. Slowly, she walked around the room with her hand pressed to the wall, lightly skimming the cold metal. She was determined to find the door.