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  In the back of the room were several crates of expired emergency rations. Calla made her way over to them, picking her steps carefully so as not to kick anything and make a sound. Somewhere in the crates was Jess’ emergency stash, everything he’d saved for their escape. Another stab of guilt hit her ten minutes later, when she found the pitifully small package containing Jess’ hopes for their future. Inside were a few credit chits, two sets of dark clothing, and a fully charged, palm-sized blaster pistol. Calla turned the weapon over in her hands several times in awe—how had Jess gotten it? She couldn’t imagine…

  It took another five minutes to replace everything and pull the dark clothing over what she was wearing. She didn’t want to leave Jenner any clues as to how she’d escaped. Maybe, someday, another slave at the hostel would need to use the storeroom exit to get away. Then, grimly whispering, “It’s now or never,” to herself, Calla opened the trap door and lowered herself into the tube, carefully pulling the door back into place. For the first time in her life, she was free.

  “I’m coming, Jess,” she said quietly into the darkness. “I’ll save you if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

  Chapter Three

  “Calla, I can’t believe you’ve done this!” Dani said, filled with a mixture of horror and admiration at her friend’s audacity. It was early morning, and she had returned from work at the House of Lilies to find Calla huddled in an alcove outside of her apartment. “Are you sure you want to go through with it?”

  “Yes, I am,” Calla said, meeting Dani’s gaze firmly with her own. “I need to find Jess, and we need to get away from Jenner. He’s always taken care of me—I can’t just stand by now that he’s in trouble. We both know what happens to slaves out in the asteroid mines. He’ll die if I don’t save him.”

  “You’re right, he will,” Dani said quietly, wishing Calla’s logic wasn’t so strong. A slave in the mines was lucky to survive a year.

  “I understand if you don’t feel like you can help me,” Calla added. “I know the penalties for assisting a runaway slave.”

  “Calla, you’re my friend and I’ll help you,” Dani said, tossing her hair defiantly. “Besides, I happen to be on very good terms with any number of our Saurellian landlords, and I have the Guild to back me up. Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’m more concerned about you. Don’t you have some kind of implant they can use to track you down?”

  “Yes, but fortunately for me, Jenner’s a cheap old bitch. She didn’t want to spring for one of the high-end models that can pinpoint exact location. She’ll be able to tell I’m on the station, but that’s about all. Of course, getting off the station is another problem. It’s programmed to release a toxin into my system if I leave the station’s electrical grid, unless it’s deactivated. That’s the only way slaves who are sold are able to leave alive.”

  “I’ve heard of that,” Dani said, a frown marring her perfect brow. “We’ll need to get rid of the implant somehow.”

  “I’ve heard that there are surgeons who will do it, for a price,” Calla said carefully. This was as far as she’d gotten with her escape plan—getting to Dani and asking for help. Everything was riding on what Dani said next. It would be almost impossible to get away without some kind of assistance.

  “Oh, Calla, that’s dangerous,” Dani said. “Those things are supposed to be tamper-proof. Won’t it release the toxin if someone tries to take it out?”

  “It’s a risk I’m willing to take, if I can find someone to perform the procedure,” Calla said. “Jess and I talked about doing it lots of times, but I was always too afraid and he wouldn’t go without me.” She added bitterly, “ Now I realize that staying a slave with Jenner was every bit as dangerous as escaping. She sold Jess knowing he would die—she just didn’t care. If I hadn’t held him back he would have gone years ago, but he thought he needed to stay and take care of me. Now I need to take care of him.”

  Looking at Calla, Dani could certainly understand why Jess had felt that way. Calla was had told her once she was 27-years-old, but with her small frame and freckled face she looked younger. If Dani didn’t know better, she would have thought Calla was nothing more than a girl in her late teens. Perhaps they could turn fragility to their advantage.

  “Calla,” Dani said. Her tone was slow and hesitant, as though she really didn’t want to even suggest her plan. “I have an idea how to get you off-station, but it’s kind of tricky.”

  “What is it?” Calla asked, cautious hope in her voice.

  “Well, first we’ll have to get rid of your tracker. But I’m thinking that we could set you up with a protector, maybe one of the Saurellians. Even though you’re not a member of the Pleasure Guild, there’s some room in the field for promising independent contractors. You wouldn’t make as much money as a Guild-trained worker like me, but it could be your ticket out of here. You’ve got decent looks, and you’re young. There are lots of men who might be interested in a woman like you.”

  Jenner had threatened to sell her to a pimp a thousand times, but it had never occurred to Calla that she could sell herself. The idea was somehow appealing—for once she would be in charge of her own body. Still, there were potential problems…

  “How would I protect myself?” she asked. “I mean, I’ve heard how rough spacers can get. I can’t do Jess any good if I’m dead.”

  “That’s where I come in,” Dani said, smiling triumphantly. “I can help negotiate a deal for you. It’s a trade secret, but the Guild keeps extensive records on all our clients. I can find you someone who has a good history and solid payment record. If you fulfill your part of the contract, you’ll find yourself off-station. You’ll have resources, and if you play your cards right, he may even help you look for Jess—some men will do anything for the woman they’re sleeping with.”

  “I can’t believe you’d do all that for me,” Calla said. She’d known Dani was generous, but to negotiate a contract for her was more than she’d expected. Normally the Guild did everything it could to squash independent contractors.

  “You know, Calla, I just wish I could give you enough money to go and find Jess by yourself,” Dani said. “But the Guild puts most of what I earn in a pension fund, and I don’t actually have access to it unless I resign. I just get an allowance until I cash out.”

  “Oh, Dani,” Calla said. “I never expected that. I just didn’t know where else to go.”

  “Well, I do have a little tucked away,” Dani said, chewing thoughtfully on her lip. She did some quick mental calculations. “I think I have enough to pay a doctor, and to give you a little bit to take with you. You’ll need it, especially if the contract doesn’t work out. We’ll need to buy you a new identity, too, and new finger and retina prints.”

  Calla nodded in agreement. Whenever Jess had talked to her about escaping, he’d listed everything they’d need. New identities were at the top of that list. She had to become a new person if she was going to have prayer of getting away from the station, let alone finding Jess.

  “Dani, I swear I’ll pay you back,” she said. “I don’t know how, but I’ll do it.”

  “Honey, I just hope you don’t get caught,” Dani said, reaching her arms out to gather Calla close. It was all Calla could do not to cry at her friend’s generosity.

  “Me, too.” Calla said. “But if I do, I won’t let them know who helped me. I promise.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Dani said with a wry laugh. “They wouldn’t dare touch me. Being a member of the Guild does have some privileges. They may have the legal right to punish me for helping you, but if they do the Guild will pull right out and boycott the station. We protect our own, and our financial interests go well beyond the pleasure houses.”

  “I had no idea,” Calla said, intrigued by the thought.

  “Not even the emperor messes with us,” Dani said. “At least not lightly. Neither will the Saurellians, if they know what’s good for them. We’re on both sides of the border, now, and w
e have a lot of influence. I’d like to see them try to come and get me.”

  * * * * *

  The next month was one of the longest in Calla’s life. According to Dani, Jenner had waited almost two days before reporting her missing, and the local station security force only made a quick, half-hearted search. Jenner wasn’t well loved by the locals, and the Saurellians were hardly likely to get involved in the hunt for a lost slave. As long as she wasn’t foolish, odds were good that no one would notice her presence. At least that’s what Calla kept telling herself.

  Getting rid of the implant proved more troublesome. It took Dani more than a week to find a surgeon willing to perform the procedure, and the price was higher than either woman had expected. Dani had enough saved up to take care of that, but not enough to do both retinas and fingerprints. They opted for the fingerprints.

  Dani also arranged to have a new identity “created” for Calla at no charge. Calla didn’t dare ask how she’d managed that. It was a pretty good guess that the average forger to be found on a mining station didn’t often have the funds to visit a guild-trained pleasure worker. Dani had probably convinced him to barter his services for hers. Calla was now officially Devora Forester, Dani’s distant cousin and an experienced pleasure contractor.

  Once the implant was out, Dani disposed of it in the mining station’s recycling system. It was their hope that when it was found and reported to Jenner, everyone would assume that Calla had been killed, and her body dumped. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a body disappeared into the depths of the unpleasant-smelling pit where station waste was slowly distilled into useable organic products.

  The hardest part of the plan to put into action was the contract. Dani urged patience, reminding Calla that if they rushed into anything she would end up with a bad client. But clients wealthy enough to seek an exclusive contract were few and far between on the mining station, and Calla was starting to get worried. Each day she stayed there was another day she wasn’t looking for Jess, and another day that Jenner might find her.

  Initially, she’d been nervous about serving some man privately, but the longer it took to find the right client, the more worried she became that things would fall through. If it did, she didn’t know what her options were. Dani was out of money, and Calla could hardly seek employment on the station.

  In the mean time, Calla busied herself by studying pleasure training tapes. When she finally got a contract, she would need the sexual education to live up to her part of the deal.

  It was nearly five weeks after Calla left the hostel that Dani came home bubbling with news.“You have a wonderful opportunity!” Dani said. “The Saurellians are finally sending a governor and long-term occupation force, which means all the men here will be leaving within the next few weeks. I think one of them might be interested in a contract with you.”

  Calla’s hopes fell a little—most of the Saurellians had stayed at Jenner’s hostel, so it was a pretty good bet they would know about a slave on the loose. Contracting with one of them didn’t seem like a very good idea, and she said as much.

  “Don’t be silly,” Dani said, giving one of her tinkling, trademark laughs. “They’re not going to recognize a runaway slave who’s turned into a glamorous pleasure worker. You’ve got a rock solid identity now. Besides, why should they care? Jenner hasn’t exactly gone out of her way to make their stay pleasant. Even if one of them did recognize you, I hardly think they’d send you back to her. They can’t stand her, and they can’t wait to get off-station. Returning escaped slaves isn’t their priority.”

  Dani was probably right, Calla thought. The Saurellians had interfered as little as possible with the day to day operations of the station. They didn’t even pay much attention to the countless smugglers and black marketeers who roamed the station’s ports and corridors freely. One escaped slave probably wouldn’t matter to them.

  “Okay, so this is my chance,” Calla said, warming to the idea. “How do we go about arranging the contract? From what you tell me, they usually aren’t into exclusive relationships.”

  “Well for one thing, any contract you make wouldn’t be exclusive for your client,” Dani said, a slight frown on her face. “You do realize that, don’t you?”

  “Oh, yes, of course,” Calla said, blushing slightly at her naiveté. That’s exactly what she’d thought, but she didn’t want to admit her ignorance. “But don’t they usually just visit a pleasure house wherever they’re stationed? What makes you think one would want to take me with him?”

  “Ha, that’s the brilliance of my plan,” Dani said smugly. “Usually they don’t, but this is a special situation. Their squad is disbanding for now. They’re going their separate ways. I guess peace negotiations with the Empire are going pretty well, and the commander is going to take some time to explore the asteroid belt or something. I guess he has an interest in mining.

  “But this is the best part,” she continued. “You see, he has a thing for women who look like you; he’s been requesting small brunettes with freckles every night for weeks. It’s actually kind of insulting,” Dani added, pouting slightly. “He hasn’t ‘visited’ me for quite a while.

  “But it’s the perfect set-up for you to look for Jess, and it’s perfect for him, too. They can’t go too long without sex, you know. Men really are weaker than us,” she added with a laugh. “Especially Saurellian men. They think with their dicks.”

  Calla was no longer listening. As soon as Dani mentioned the commander, she got a tight feeling in the pit of her stomach. Was she talking about Seth? If so, Dani’s plan couldn’t possibly work.

  “There may be a problem,” Calla said quietly. Dani’s smile dimmed a bit. “I’ve met their commander before.”

  “Tell me what happened,” Dani said, seemingly unconcerned. “I’ll tell you whether it’s a problem or not.”

  By the time Calla had finished her story, Dani’s jaw had dropped in disbelief. Calla stopped talking, and looked anxiously at Dani to gage her reaction.

  “This isn’t a problem, this is perfect!” Dani said. For once she wasn’t smiling with innocent charm or seductive smoothness. The accomplished pleasure worker was grinning from ear to ear. “You already know he wants you, he’s asked for girls who look like you ever since then.”

  “But he’ll know I’m an escaped slave!”

  “No, he won’t even recognize you by the time I’m done with you,” Dani said confidently. “He only saw you once, right? And not even your face, really.”

  Calla blushed again, but Dani didn’t even notice.

  “From now on you’re an experienced woman who’s worked her way across a hundred star systems. I’ll provide you with a resume and references he won’t be able to crack—another little Guild trick—and even if he suspects, he’ll never be able to prove anything. All you have to do is get off-station and you’ll be home free!”

  “I’m not so sure, Dani,” Calla said. “I think this may be a bad idea.”

  “We’ve come too far for you to get cold feet now, girl,” Dani said sternly. “Besides, what are your options here? This may be your best shot at freedom and finding Jess. For love of the Goddess, the man’s already headed in the right direction. All you have to do it convince him to take you with him.”

  “All right, all right,” Calla said. “You’re right. It’s my best shot. So, how do we go about it? Will you just arrange everything, or what? It’s not like I’ve done this before,” she added with a nervous laugh.

  “Well, since he isn’t openly shopping for a contract, we’ll have to convince him,” Dani said. “He’ll be at the House of Lilies tonight, so I’ll arrange for you to meet him. You’ll have to do the convincing. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll get you ready, and if you’re too nervous I’ll give you a little something to help things along.”

  “I’m not sure I like how that sounds,” Calla said cautiously.

  “Oh, you’ll like it,” Dani said enigmatically. “Just wait ‘till you
give it a try.”

  * * * * *

  Later that evening Calla discovered Dani what meant. She definitely liked “it.” There was something in the wine Dani gave her as they were preparing for her “interview”, and Calla was feeling more than a little friendly by the time they were done. Dani had started her out with a relaxing massage with the specialist they kept on staff at the pleasure house. Calla had been hesitant at first, but Dani just gave her a knowing smile.

  “Trust me,” she’d said. “You’ll like the massage. Kail has the most talented fingers…”

  Dani was right about Kail’s fingers, Calla thought lazily after an hour under his ministrations. She’d followed Dani into the dimly lit massage room unsure of what to expect. What she found was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen wearing only a brief cloth around his waist. He’d walked over to greet them, then gently led Calla to his waiting massage couch. Dani, smiling with satisfaction, reclined lazily in one of several chairs against the wall to watch.

  Calla gulped, then turned to the man nervously. He was tall, with tightly defined muscles and a soft smile. He was also completely hairless, something she had never seen before. He noticed her look of inquiry, and laughed.

  “I’m from Kelarus, we don’t have any hair,” he said with a smile as he pulled off her robe. It was disconcerting to have a total stranger remove her clothes, but not as much as she had thought it would be. “It’s the wine, it helps you relax,” he said. “Dani’s own special recipe.”

  He gestured for her to lie down on the couch on her stomach. He left her side, and soft music filled the room. Then a drip of something warm hit her back. Kail spread flower-scented oil in small drops from her shoulder blades to the small of her back, then his smooth hands started running along her spine and she melted.