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  Checking the time, she realized there was at least an hour before she needed to be back to the hostel, enough time to visit her friend Dani. Dani’s apartment wasn’t far from the marketplace, although it was on the opposite side of the station from the hostel. That was fine with Calla, because it made it less likely that Jenner would ever run into her and Dani together. Dani was a pleasure worker, a profession that Jenner and her fellow pilgrims despised. According to Jenner, any woman who had sex outside of marriage was a dirty slut and deserved to be treated as such. In Calla’s opinion, Dani had things pretty good.

  Dani was a member of the powerful Pleasure Guild, highly trained and well paid for her services. She was completely free to come and go as she pleased, working in any pleasure house she chose. Upon retirement, she would have her pick of suitors and a healthy cash settlement, more than enough to support her for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, the Guild only accepted extremely beautiful girls in their early teens as apprentices. Calla was too old to join even if she wasn’t a slave, she thought wistfully.

  “Dani? It’s me, Calla,” she said into the little com outside Dani’s door. It was still a little early for Dani to be up after working all night, but Calla knew Dani wouldn’t mind her stopping by. They got very few opportunities to visit, especially lately. Things had simply been too chaotic.

  “Calla?” Dani’s voice floated out through the speaker. “It’s good to hear your voice. Come on in.”

  Pressing her palm to the doorplate, Calla waited for the door to slide open. When it did, the scent of Dani’s perfume wafted out into the corridor. Dani stood in the doorway, dressed in a luxurious silk robe tied around the waist. Her long, blond hair fell to her waist in fat curls. Calla knew she must have just crawled out of bed, but she still looked like a vid star. Dani always looked perfect—whenever Calla asked how, Dani would simply wink and whisper “trade secret.”

  “Come in, come in,” Dani said, engulfing her in a warm hug, then gesturing toward the low couch in her living area. Dani’s apartment was tiny, like every apartment on the cramped station, yet somehow it seemed like a different world to Calla. Everything was draped with silk and soft pillows, and there were holo pictures on the walls from all over the galaxy, one from each of the places Dani had lived and worked. She’d been everywhere.

  “It’s so good to see you, Dani,” Calla said, smiling warmly at her friend. “Things have been so strange since the occupation started. You know, almost all of the Saurellians are staying at the hostel. They’ve taken over the whole place.”

  “I’m surprised they even bother to get rooms anywhere,” Dani said with a laugh. “I’d swear they spend all their free time at the House of Lilies—though they’re hardly sleeping there,” she added with a wink.

  “Really?” Calla asked, curious despite herself. Dani’s stories of the pleasure house always intrigued her. Not that she was interested in learning any more about the Saurellian commander, of course, she told herself. She needed to keep her distance from him. But it was interesting to learn more about their conquerors.

  “Oh, yes,” Dani said. She sighed dramatically and draped herself back against the pillows. “You wouldn’t believe what those men are like in bed. They’re insatiable. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I have to say, if I wasn’t a card-carrying member of the Guild, I’d do it with any of them for free… I swear the credits are just a perk.”

  “I see,” Calla said. For once, she felt like she truly understood what Dani was talking about. She’d certainly never experienced sex as wonderful as what she’d had with the commander. If it wasn’t for Jenner, she’d have taken him up on his offer in a heartbeat.

  “Last night I was with one named Seth,” Dani said. Calla’s breath caught. Was Dani talking about her Saurellian? “He’s like a machine. He fucked me twice in a row! I must’ve come something like five times. I can hardly walk this morning, yet I know for a fact that he had at least one other girl last night after me.”

  Calla’s brow furrowed. Seth had sex with two other women last night?

  “Was he, um, one of the ones staying at our hostel, do you think?” she asked, trying not to sound too curious. It didn’t matter of course. Seth could never be hers, even for a few days. Only a slave who was a complete fool would allow herself to get involved with a free man like him. He’d have to leave eventually, and then she’d be left to Jenner’s tender mercies. No man was worth it.

  “Probably,” Dani said. “He’s the commander, so I would imagine that he’s staying there.”

  It was him, Calla realized. If he’d left her to head straight for the pleasure house, then he must not have been as interested in her as she had originally thought. He’d seemed so angry when she told him she was married, but maybe that was just his way. He was Saurellian, after all. They were all crazy. It was stupid of her to think she’d actually been anything special to him, she thought in disgust.

  “Um, Dani, I have a question for you.” Calla said after a brief pause. Dani was probably her best source of information on the Saurellians—she might as well take the opportunity to learn as much as she could about their new governors. “What do you think of the Saurellians, other than just what they’re like in bed, I mean?”

  “Well, I like them,” Dani said, after pausing for a minute to consider her answer. “They’re open about what they want. They’re here, they’re leaving soon, and they aren’t interested in playing any games, especially with women like me. I hate it when men pretend to be emotionally involved in sex.”

  “What do you mean, they’re leaving?” Calla asked, confused. “I thought they were going to keep the station. I mean, they fought hard to take it. They must want to keep the mining belts.”

  “Well, from what I hear, they’ll be leaving soon,” Dani said, lazily leaning over and picking up a fruit from the basket on the table. Dani offered the little basket to Calla, who took a citrus.

  She didn’t get these very often, so they were a special treat. Calla suspected Dani realized that, because she always seemed to have them on hand when Calla came to visit.

  “The warriors will be leaving, that is,” Dani clarified. “They’re sending a governor or something, with a regular occupation force. Their military is totally separate from the civil authority. From what Jax tells me—he’s one of my regulars—the soldiers really hate it when they have to stay put for too long like this. They like action, and this isn’t cutting it.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Calla objected. “The imperial troops liked action, too, but that didn’t stop them from occupying the station for years.”

  “I don’t think it’s quite the same with Saurellians,” Dani said. “It’s kind of weird, but these soldiers are different from the imperial soldiers.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, this is going to sound strange, but I think they’re just kind of sexually frustrated and restless all of the time,” Dani replied, laughing a little. “According to Jax, they can only really be satisfied when they get a life mate, and there aren’t enough of them to go around. I guess that only about one female is born for every four or five men in their home system, and while they can mate with human women, they can’t bond with them. Once they bond, they bond for life, but the poor saps that don’t get one of the women are just out of luck. Jax told me that by the time they’re about 25, they pretty much have to leave the home system because they tend to get out of control, even violent.”

  “That’s horrible,” Calla said. “And they can’t bond with anyone outside their home system?”

  “Nope,” Dani said. “They can fuck all they want, but it’s never quite enough. According to Jax, most of them won’t live past their 40th birthday. They get into too many fights. When they send a governor to the station, he’ll be bonded and stable, a family man. Otherwise their occupation would never last.”

  Calla licked the last drop of citrus juice from her fingers, then looked longingly at the little clock hanging
on Dani’s wall. It was past time for her to go. With a sigh, she pushed herself off the couch and stood up.

  “I need to get going, Dani,” she said. “I’m sure Mistress Jenner’s watching the clock again, just waiting for me to be late.”

  “I hate that old bitch,” Dani said, disgust written all over her lovely face. “She’s such a hypocrite—condemning pleasure workers like me, yet keeping you as a slave and dealing on the black market. I wish I could buy you, but the Guild forbids us to purchase slaves, even to free them. I doubt she’d sell you, anyway.”

  “You’re too good to me,” Calla said, standing up and giving Dani a hug. “You’re right, though, she probably wouldn’t sell me. Unfortunately, she almost seems to like me in some sick way. She’s told me more than once that the only way I’m getting away from her is to die or get sold to a port-side pimp.”

  “Bitch,” Dani hissed with feeling, then sighed heavily. “At the very least, take some of the citrus fruit with you. I know you love it.”

  “Thanks, Dani,” Calla said, pocketing the fruit. She’d share it with the other girls at the hostel later. “I wish I had something to give you.”

  “Oh, I can always buy more citrus fruit,” Dani said gently. “Good friends are harder to find. I count myself lucky that I ran into you in the market that day. You saved me from losing a fortune on that fake jewelry, you know. I still can’t believe I fell for that guy’s spiel.”

  Calla laughed at the memory. She’d seen old Gavin trying to sell Dani some of the same jewelry he usually sold to the drunken miners. Nothing but tin, with a coat of gold paint. Dani had been new to the station, however, and wasn’t used to unregulated trade standards. Calla had stepped in and warned her just in time. They’d been unlikely friends ever since.

  “Take care, and I’ll see you later,” Calla said, then stepped out the door. If she was lucky, she’d get home before Jenner realized she’d taken a side trip. Fortunately Mistress Jenner—while cruel—was not particularly smart.

  * * * * *

  It was nearly the noon hour by the time she arrived at the small, back-corridor door that was the service entrance to the hostel. A tall Saurellian guarded the entryway, and another was seated just inside the door. Both scrutinized her identity chit closely before allowing her to go through to Mistress Jenner’s office, located off the kitchen. They’d seen her before, of course, but it didn’t stop them from thoroughly checking her identity. The Saurellians might like to party, Calla thought, but they were all business when it came to security.

  “I’ve gotten all the supplies,” she said when her middle-aged owner looked up and acknowledged her with a grunt. Jenner was sitting at her desk, all three hundred pounds of quivering flesh tucked into a chair that was far too small for her massive body. Jess, with his dark sense of humor, had gone so far as to take bets among the slaves as to when the chair would break. “Here’s the list,” Calla said. “The deliveries should be complete by this afternoon.”

  Jenner reached up a hand for the small transaction pad Calla carried. Calla’s fingers brushed against those of her mistress as she handed the pad over, and as usual she had to suppress a small shudder at the feel of Jenner’s skin. They were cold and dry, like a snake’s. Or at least like Calla imagined snake skin would feel. She’d always thought of Mistress Jenner as snake-like, with her staring eyes and stale scent. Her mistress was cold and cruel, something Calla had seen demonstrated time and again over the years. Jenner cared only for herself and her profit, no matter that she professed to be a devout spiritual Pilgrim. Of course, most of the Pilgrims seemed that way to Calla. Their religion was simply a way to justify their selfish actions, as far as she could tell.

  “You’ve done all right,” Jenner said grudgingly after a minute, beady eyes darting across the list of purchases. “They’ll be needing you in the kitchen. We’re a little short-handed. I had to let someone go today.”

  Calla felt cold fear in her stomach. “Let someone go” was Jenner’s euphemism for selling one of the slaves, all of whom were Calla’s friends. Trying to contain her concern, Calla nodded submissively at Jenner and made her way down the hall to the kitchen. When she opened the door, conversation fell silent and suddenly everyone became busy with their tasks. Everyone except Hari, a young girl who cleaned the cooking implements and dishes.

  “Calla, you won’t believe what Mistress Jenner did!” Hari said with wide eyes.

  “Shut up, Hari,” said Karin, the cook. She was one of the few slaves who had been at the hostel longer than Calla. Calla’s fear grew stronger. No one but Karin and Hari would look at her, and there was a sadness in Karin’s face that boded ill.

  “Mistress Jenner said she got rid of someone,” Calla asked quickly. “Who was it?”

  “Calla, I’m so sorry,” Karin said, walking quickly toward her. “Come sit with me at the table.”

  Something was very wrong, Calla realized. The only reason that Karin would look at her like that would be if Jenner had sold…

  “Jess,” Calla whispered, comprehension dawning. “She sold Jess. He’s gone.”

  “Honey, none of us had any idea,” Karin said, pulling Calla to her. The horror of Jenner’s actions was too much. Calla had never been away from Jess, they were born in the same crèche on the imperial slave farm. It was beyond comprehension.

  “Where is he?” Calla asked, hoping Jess was still on-station. At least that way she would be able to see him.

  “He’s gone,” Karin said. “Jenner sold him to one of her pilgrim friends, a miner. They came to take him just a couple of minutes after you left to shop this morning. I guess the deal’s been done for weeks; they just waited to collect him until it was time to ship back out to the mining fields. He’s already off-station. She just didn’t bother to tell any of us it was going to happen,” she added with disgust.

  It was typical Jenner, Calla thought despairingly. No matter than Jess was her best friend. No matter that they’d been together their entire lives. The most horrifying thing was that it hadn’t been deliberate cruelty on Jenner’s part—Calla was sure it simply hadn’t occurred to her that the slaves would want to know they were going to be separated. To Jenner, Jess and Calla weren’t even real people. It was too much to bear.

  “I hate her, Karin,” Calla whispered fiercely, fighting against the tears that threatened to take over her whole body. “I hate that bitch. How could she do this to us? He’s my brother!”

  “I’m so sorry, honey,” Karin said.

  Calla leaned heavily against her, almost dizzy from shock. Jess was gone, and she might never see him again. She felt like vomiting.

  The rest of the day was more horrible than Calla could have imagined. All of them were upset, of course, but none had been as close to Jess as Calla. Each of her fellow slaves did their part to make Calla feel better. Karin saved a small tartlet from Jenner’s own dinner for her, and Hari slipped her a chit worth half a credit the girl had gotten somewhere. It wasn’t much, but even half a credit was a prize to a slave. Jenner herself betrayed no emotions when she swept into the kitchen for her evening inspection. Then again, why would she? Calla thought bitterly. In Jenner’s mind slaves weren’t fully human, a belief that was validated by her pilgrim religion.

  By evening, the first shock of Jess’ fate had worn off, and Calla was grateful for the comforting darkness of lights-out. She had been fighting off tears for the last several hours, and she couldn’t hold them back any longer. Beyond the kitchen were the hostel’s common rooms, mostly unused by their Saurellian guests, who preferred the atmosphere of the station’s drinking and pleasure facilities. Needing some space for herself, Calla crept silently along the hallway and into one of the rooms. She crawled onto a low couch where she curled into a miserable ball.

  She lay there, crying, for at least an hour before she came to a realization. She couldn’t stay at the hostel any longer. Life had become too horrible. The only family she had ever known was gone. She and Jess had been born the s
ame day on the slave farm. They had spent their entire lives serving others, trapped by the knowledge that runaway slaves were hunted down and swiftly executed by the imperial troops if caught.

  But they weren’t in the Empire any more, the realization came to her suddenly, and their new overlords were busy securing their conquests. This might be the best chance to escape she would ever get. If she could find and free Jess, they could escape into the chaos of the new political system and live out their lives with none the wiser.

  Calla never seriously considered running away before, although Jess had been plotting escape for years. The obstacles were too high and the consequences were too terrible for Calla to try, and Jess would never go without her. But now that Jess was gone, she had very little left to lose. It was time for action.

  With a new sense of purpose, Calla got up and crept back into the common sleeping room. The hostel had been her home for more than ten years, and she knew every nook and cranny of it. Now was the time to put that knowledge to good use, before she lost her nerve. Quietly gathering what few possessions she had, Calla placed them in a small rucksack and made her way to the storeroom. It was locked, of course. Jenner doled out supplies carefully, accounting for every credit’s worth.

  What Jenner didn’t know was that Calla and Jess had managed to break the door’s code years ago, programming in their own palm prints. As high-spirited teen-agers, they’d used the storeroom as a location for late-night feasts and planning pranks. As adults, she suspected Jess used the room to meet with his women; he was careful to keep that side of himself from her, but she’d heard rumors about his activities from the other slaves.

  It was during one of their childhood feasts that they’d discovered Jenner’s little secret—a trap door that let out into one of the station’s ventilation tubes. At the time, they figured that Jenner’s paranoia had finally gotten the best of her. After all, pilgrims were notorious for their survivalist tendencies, so it wasn’t that strange that Jenner had a secret way to leave the hostel. Now it would give Calla a way to escape without any of the guards seeing her. Getting off the station would prove harder, but Dani might be able to help with that.