With the ship back on the path mapped out for it again there wasn't much for me to do but watch the radars and sit back in the secondary seat of the cockpit. My hands were pinned to the arms of the chair for now, but I could still be useful and keep an eye on some of the systems.
We were on an impressive, but older ship. In its time it had been one of the fastest cargo runners known to those in space and it was clear that Icaan knew how to fly her. His brother had good taste, but it was clearly in need of some maintenance.
I tried not to do anything that my captor might find irritating like drumming my fingers, or hum, but after a while the silence started to bother me. When I was on my own ship alone silence was something I sort of accepted. It didn't feel strange because I didn't expect anything different, but while sitting next to someone it was bizarre.
Briefly wondering if Icaan felt similar I considered something I might be able to get away with saying or asking. He'd asked me for silence but I was pretty sure it had only been so I wouldn't argue with him further. Was there a subject we could talk about without arguing.
"Is the market you're heading to the one I think it is?" I asked a moment later. He whipped his head around my way as if he might tell me off, but I held his gaze and tried to look calm and unchallenging.
"It's the main one, if that's what you mean. On Nisacara."
"I've heard lots about it. Does it really cover the entire planet?"
"Mostly. Although the planet isn't as large as some we inhabit so it's not quite so impressive. And it's broken up into sectors with high speed shuttles in between them. You want one kind of item, you go to one area and you have lots of choices."
"And if you want a human slave you go to another," I replied, before wanting to mentally smack myself. I just couldn't keep the snark at home.
"Yup, and that's broken down into several different areas too. Men, Women, kids, families, other aliens that we've enslaved."
"Wow..." I replied, blown away by how big this sounded. "And you've been there before?"
"Many times. I take it you haven't?"
"No. I heard it was pretty unsafe for a woman alone."
"Yeah, you heard right. You can hire a guard to escort you. or several, but you need to have a decent budget or you're just as likely to be sold by the slaver masquerading as a guard and have him pocket the credits for both."
"Right, so it's as lawless as I was warned about."
"Entirely. How else do you think I'll get enough credits for you? You're not an official slave and I'll need someone to handle your paperwork. That requires an awful lot of set up. They'll pay well enough for you, though."
I sighed again, unable to help myself. Once again we'd got back to the topic of my slavery. Was that where all our conversations would lead."
"You should find that once you're a slave you'll actually get to see some of these places though."
"I will?"
"Yeah. You're not stupid. You know how to cooperate when there's a benefit to you and most slave owners aren't tyrants. If you want some freedoms you can earn them."
I forced back the retort pointing out that I'd had freedoms, but he'd had a point. If I'd wanted to go certain places I hadn't been able to. Not alone. But I wouldn't be entirely free under his example either. It would just be trading one set of freedoms for another, and only if I was lucky enough to be bought by someone who could be reasoned with.
Even I knew that there was a subset of even the kindest alien race that were complete asshats. Every family had one and every species. It seemed to be just how the universe worked.
"Do you have somewhere you'd like to go if money wasn't an issue?" I asked, thinking it was a good question to hopefully get him talking about something happier.
"Yes, there's a small planet off the main quadrant. It's run by a small company as some kind of holiday resort, but they're not owned by someone intent on squeezing every last credit of profit out of the planet. Most of it is still wild. A little dangerous for non Frentin, but because of that it's quieter than most places and you can sign a waiver and go off into the wilderness."
"Get some alone time in nature."
"Yeah, that. And more. There's proper wildlife. And you can live off the land. There's slightly tamer versions for those who want half the experience. Some well marked trails for those who want to see good views and not risk getting lost, and crates of supplies at regular intervals."
"Literally a holiday where you can be as alone and self sufficient as you want to and no more or less. That sounds amazing. I bet it costs a fortune though."
"Not a fortune, but more than a simple resort holiday because they've not got the economy of scale like the places that pack in villas across every mile of coastline and around every natural attraction they can make or create demand for."
"I'll have to take your word for it. I've never been on any kind of holiday," I replied, only realizing how bleak and not happy that sounded once I said it. I'd never minded, but I'd had strange reactions to mentioning it in the past. And even now Icaan stared at me for a moment.
"No holidays? Not ever?"
"Nope. I was an orphan. Grew up in a girls home that was basically little more than a business that hired out young girls as slave labor. When I was old enough to get out of there, I collected what meager wages I was meant to have earned for all my years hard work and then I left. I worked as a market runner for a couple of years and slept rough to save up for my first ship."
"Market runner can be a tough gig."
"Aye. People expect a lot and want to pay very little, but it was a job and I quickly worked out who to respond to when they made a request for my services."
"Good. Should help you make sure your buyer is someone who'll actually take care of you," he replied, nodding as if that assuaged some of his guilt as well.
"You know, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't remind me every five seconds that you intend to sell me. I was trying to talk about nicer subjects."
He whipped his head to look at me again, his eyebrows coming together.
"I get it. You're not used to company. Especially amicable company, but you seem to be preoccupied with making money. There's more to life you know."
"Sounds like you've spent most of your life just trying to make money too," he shot back, clearly more than a little angry. "And I thought I told you I wanted you silent."
"You did, but then I asked you a question about something else and you genuinely appeared to appreciate talking about something different. Forgive me for not wanting to give up on my life or spend the next nine days silently contemplating how best to murder you."
I growled, knowing I shouldn't have snapped but sick of everything. Thanks to the current situation I felt constantly on edge and it was clear my Frentin captive didn't have any clue how fortunate he was. He clearly had far more money than I'd ever had. He'd been given his first ship, and despite having a single mistake put him on a tougher course, he was smuggling women.
And I was no fool, people didn't smuggle anything that wasn't worth smuggling. He was going to get some decent credits for me if he got me to market. It was enough to make me feel sick.
It took a little while to get back to the shuttle platform, but immediately I noticed a similar large carriage to the one I'd used to get to this dome. It was sitting on a section of track out of the way, but as soon as we approached more guards in red hurried over to it and got it moving back onto the main line."Come on, I'll help you strap in," Icaan said, as he also helped me up and into the shuttle in the first place.There wasn't room for every single red guard and my own loyal team of six, but there was a second compartment on this shuttle and a selection of them made their way in there as Icaan got me safely in my seat and then sat down beside me and took my hand once more.The doors slid down again with a much gentler and less noisy motion and then, almost effortlessly and with almost no jerking the shuttle started moving. We
Silence had settled into the room for at least a minute as no one seemed to know what to do or say and my mind slipped into the turmoil it felt. I couldn't be bought by Icaan. Despite our best attempt at bringing in the credits, he didn't have enough.I couldn't help but cry as my fate ran through my head. Despite Icaan wanting me and me wanting him I was stuck as a slave and I had been put there initially by the very Frentin I loved. It seemed so heartless and unfair but there was nothing I could do about it.Although I considered trying to run again, I knew it was pointless. Every man in the room bar Icaan was now bound to keep me here and I didn't doubt Sadisk planned to punish me enough as it was. Shaking, I reached for Icaan, but he shook his head and pulled away.The movement broke a dam as almost half the room started to talk a
"Stop this madness and let my slave go!" Icaan's voice commanded from somewhere nearby. Immediately I opened my eyes, but the baton struck me anyway, catching me in the side. Despite my resolve to handle this with dignity I screamed, the pain as it shot through my torso so intense I couldn't do anything but."I gave a command. Let that slave go!" Icaan yelled and immediately the pain receded and I crumpled to the floor.Tears streamed down my face, the pain still so intense I could barely move. Frith appeared at my side and gently tried to lift me as Brinto and several of the other guards hurried to my side and surrounded me, physically pushing Sadisk and the other men back, but the slave trader didn't appear to want to give up."She's not your slave yet, and she needs to be punished. Twice now she has tried to escape."
Despite Sadisk's declaration that Icaan had abandoned me, I still didn't want to believe it. And it seemed neither did anyone else. No one moved."Come here, slave. I will begin by dealing out your punishment for escaping your masters and costing them a significant sum of money to have you returned.""No," I said, "Not yet. I said I would wait three hours to allow for issues with your transport shuttles. My heart doesn't believe me abandoned yet."Then I shall break your heart as well if need be, but you will learn to obey." Sadisk seemed to produce some kind of baton from somewhere inside his clothes and strode toward me.I moved to one side and attempted to put the sofa between us as Brinto also stepped into the way."You cannot be serious, Sadisk. Those things
The dawn light shone through the window and woke me from an uneasy sleep. Frith immediately looked my way and gave me a nod.I sat up once more but didn't get out of the bed."Do you know how long I've got until the council will have met and decided Icaan's fate?" I asked.Frith pulled out a small device and tapped at it."They're in session now. He'll know within the next twenty minutes," Frith replied a moment later. I sighed. This was the crunch moment. This was the next trial for me to endure.I got out of bed and neatened my clothes and brushed my hair as quickly as I could. I then made sure my pack contained everything that mattered to me and I carried it over to Frith."I know you have no reason to do anything for me, but
As the night went on I still found sleep didn't want to come and I considered giving up. With his shift up, Brinto was relieved by Frith and another of the guards and I listened as they talked quietly before Brinto and his companion left.Frith then ordered the guard with him to wait outside. Although I thought this was a little odd, the guard seemed to think nothing of it and moved into the corridor outside, shutting the door behind himself.It was still dark outside, but the room was lit by enough starlight and lamp light from somewhere that I could see Frith move. He came over to the bed, stopping at the foot of it when I moved."You're awake?" he whispered."Yes. It's hard to sleep when you don't know what your fate will be," I replied, keeping my voice quiet but not bothering to whisper.