Ecstasy of Gold - Ch. 2

“I could snap your neck with a flick of my wrist…” She snarled at him. Both ignored Karen as she scurried away.

“And my death-twitch will turn your head into a canoe…”

“STOP! Both of you stop, please!” Constance yelled, running into the ship. She was holding her dress up slightly so she wouldn’t trip over it. Both the blond man and Ariis looked over at her with disbelief. Neither one would drop their guard and risk the other killing them in a blink. Tasha ran up with the rifle ready, holding it tight up against her shoulder. She stopped running when she saw Constance, stumbling to a stop. She lowered her rifle, staring at her slightly. Constance was unearthly beautiful, and it was hard not to stare on anyone’s part. “We just want to talk to your captain. We apologize if we frightened you.”

“Is that true?” Ariis turned back to the blond man. “Did you just come to speak with Captain Jack?” The blond man nodded, still gritting his teeth. “I do not trust you…”

“Ariis…” Tasha shook her head, getting over how mesmerized she was by Constance. “Let him down.” Ariis started to complain in her native language. It was harsh and guttural, almost frightening to the others in the room. “If he does anything suspicious, you can pick up right where you left off.”

“What about the girl?” Ariis said, staring down Constance.

“Does she look like she could hurt anyone?” Tasha put the rifle on her belt. “Alright, I’m the captain’s daughter…” She said to Constance, turning only slightly to the blond man as she spoke. “What did you want to talk to my dad about?”

“Sanctuary for my friend there.” He said, putting his revolver away. “She needs to get far away from here.”

“Why?” Tasha looked fully at him for a brief glance, turning back to Constance. “What’s wrong?”

“I…I was a…” The blond man gestured for her to remain silent.

“We’ll tell your captain, and only your captain.” He spoke strongly. Tasha nodded, and decided to be strong herself.

“Fine…” She pointed at him. “But you’ll have to disarm and go through a medical exam…” She jabbed him with her finger. “Both of you. We just can’t risk the chance that this is a plot to kill him…somehow.”

“That’s fine…” Constance said, hanging her head. The blond man was a little more reluctant. He turned, keeping his hand on his revolver.

“I’m not giving up my gun or my grenades.”

“Then you’re not seeing the captain.” Tasha jabbed him in the chest again. He grit his teeth visibly but calmed down. He knew nothing ever went well when he lost his head. He had more than enough scars to prove it. He took his hat off Constance, putting it on.

“Then I’ll be on my way.” He headed back for the doorway, but stopped when he felt someone grab his wrist. He turned, ready to fire until he saw it was Constance. She had tears in her eyes and looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. With direct contact, he got all of her thoughts instead of just her reading his. They were desperate, pleading thoughts that went beyond words.

“Please…” She whispered to him. He took off his fedora, holding it in his hands. He took out a cigarette and lit it. Tasha hated the smell, choking on it immediately.

“Fine…” He took off the grenades from his belt, gun belt, and then his hip holster for his plasma rifle. He carefully handed them to Tasha. “But you better take damn good care of these…”

“I will.” Tasha cradled them in her arms. “Ariis, take them to the hospital section, have Patch look them over. Make sure Blondie here stays in line.”

“With pleasure…” Ariis shoved the blond man, almost knocking the cigarette out of his mouth. He took a drag off it and blew the smoke out.

“Easy, Amazon…I’m not stupid enough to try fighting you unarmed…” She smiled. Constance looked up into Ariis’ eyes. Ariis was walking in a rigid military march, knowing she was on duty now.

“Who’s Patch?”

“It is what we named the ship’s medical robot.” Ariis looked down at her as much as she could. “Don’t worry, it’s gentle.”

“I’m not worried…” Constance looked ahead, staring off into the distance. She was doing her best to get use to the all metal hallway. It had exposed support girders in the hallway. She didn’t hate it, but she didn’t like it either. No matter what, she was glad she was someplace new. “I’ve only seen a medical android once before, when I needed…”

“Not android, robot.” Ariis corrected her. “Patch isn’t designed to look like a human.”

“Neat…” Constance smiled. “I’ve never seen a robot before…” Constance knew he wouldn’t like it, but she took an opportunity she saw and grabbed the blond man’s hand. He winced slightly and rolled his eyes. She knew he hated it, but he’d also let her hold his hand, knowing it’d comfort her. And it did. It was the only thing keeping Constance from shaking herself apart out of nervousness.

“We’re here.” Ariis slid open the door to the hospital section.

The hospital section was all brilliant white, polished metal. It was all finished with no exposed supports like the rest of the ship. It was even lit better than the rest of the ship. As they walked into the room, a small robot hovered over towards them. It looked like a small flying saucer, with a coin-like edge. On the edge was a large, round camera eye. It also had a small pair of robotic hands that hung down from its body as it hovered around.

“Greetings, Princess Ariis.” Patch greeted them in an artificially sincere voice. It wasn’t really capable of emotion, but it was programmed so its voice wasn’t monotone. It was far too monotone otherwise. “How may I be of assistance tod…”

“These two need complete medical scans.” Ariis cut it off, pushing the blond man and Constance forward. “Make sure they aren’t carrying anything like a plague or anything that can be used as a weapon internally.”

“…day.” Patch finished. “Standard biohazard and medical scans. Would you like an enemy combatant scan as well?”

“Only if you need a more thorough examination.” Ariis turned back to the door. Now that she wasn’t escorting the blond man and Constance, her walk went from a rigid military walk back to her usual swagger. “As soon as they’ve checked out clean, call the captain and arrange a meeting for them.”

“Yes, Princess…” Ariis walked through the door, slamming it shut before Patch could finish, “…Ariis.”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to be rude…” Constance tried to comfort it. It just shrugged, another thing programmed into it. It didn’t matter to it that Ariis was being rude. It had no feelings to hurt.

“Please follow me to your separate isolation rooms, disrobe and stand in the scanners.” Constance nodded and followed immediately, but the blond man was a little more reluctant. He put out his cigarette and followed. Constance looked up at him.

“Thank you for staying…” She was still shy about talking to him. He looked at the robot, not sure if it had a bug in it or not.

“Don’t worry about it.” He looked at the door, rapping his knuckles against the door, waiting for it to open. Over a minute passed and nothing happened. The doors didn’t move in the slightest. “What’s the wait?”

“Initializing routines…Calibrating scanners…” Patch hovered lower, looking into Constance’s eyes. It was strange for her to have something so close without hearing its thoughts. “Name, age, occupation, and any pre-existing medical conditions?”

“Constance…sixteen…I…I’m a prostitute,” She bit her thumbnail. “Not by choice, mind you…and none, as far as I know…” Constance bit her thumb nervously. She could hear clicks and see lights on it swinging back and forth.

“For a prostitute, you are in excellent health.” Patch spoke, scanning her. The blond man was surprised Constance was sixteen. Because of her height and features, he could have sworn she was no older than thirteen. “I will have to run more scans to be certain, but you’re an augment, are you not?”

“…a what?”

“An augment is a person who has had their genetics altered to provide superior…” Patch started going into an overly long dictionary definition of the term. The man couldn’t stand the sound of his voice, interrupting him with a punch that knocked it around slightly.

“Augments are people with altered genes.” Constance hung her head, biting the knuckle of her index finger nervously. “You must’ve known…Your silver hair and eyes aren’t natural.”

“I’m one of those augment freaks?” Tears started sneaking out of her eyes. As soon as she was done talking, she bit her knuckle again. “How am I supposed to live with that…”

“Augments are quite common, Miss.” Patch hovered up higher, avoiding the blond man’s reach. He was still readjusting everything so he wouldn’t be wobbling out of control. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Thou shall not tamper in God’s domain…” Constance whispered quietly. The blond man took his cross necklace out, holding it up so Constance could see it.

“If god didn’t want us to do it, we wouldn’t be ABLE to do it.”

“Then god wanted all that torture that happened to me…” Constance hung her head. “And why would he want that?”

“Constance…” Before he could say anything else, Patch was in his face, scanning him. “Back off, tin can.”

“Name, age, occupation, and pre-existing medical conditions.” He wanted to comfort Constance more, but Patch blocked him every time he tried to talk to her.

“None of your business, thirty-one, bounty hunter, and none.” Patch started scanning him. He grit his teeth. Today was a frustrating day for him, and he lit up another cigarette to take care of it. It was the most he had smoked at once, but it was helping with everything.

“I need a name for registration. Name please.” He snarled, not telling it his real name. Patch was getting impatient. “Very well, registering by occupation. Bounty Hunter registered as name. Natural human with no cybernetic implants or genetic alterations, but slight risk of cancer due to habits…” The doors to the individual rooms finally opened. “Please step this way.”

“Can I call you…Hunter?” Constance asked before they went into their rooms. He nodded.

“Sure, kid. Call me whatever you want.”

“Hunter registered as preferred name.” Patch raised one of his robotic claws. “Step this way, Mister Hunter.” He grit his teeth and walked through the door. Constance did the same, watching him until the door closed, blocking her view.

Constance hung her head, slowly getting undressed. She took off his poncho first, carefully folding it. She hated getting undressed. She slowly lowered her dress, folding it with much less care. Once she was undressed she walked into a small booth in the wall. It was the only well lit place in the room, telling her it was where she needed to be. She stepped into it, and a round glass wall rotated out of the wall, keeping her inside. She started to have a small panic attack, feeling like she was in a coffin. She kept her arm across her chest and covered her crotch with her hands, blushing the entire time.

Small disks came out of the smooth flat surface of the wall, flying around her and shining a narrow blue light over her. They started at the top and slowly worked their way down. They buzzed and whirred as they slowly made their way down her body.


Hunter was in the other isolation room, standing in the scanner. He tapped his foot, waiting for his scan to be over. His scan was going far quicker than Constance’s. One of the scanners stopped over his cross.

“Please remove this…” The computer’s robotic voice clicked. “Unknown foreign object is interfering with scans.” He groaned and took off his cross and let the scanner finish running. As soon as it was done, he put his cross on.


Captain Jack walked down to the hospital section. Tasha followed just behind him, doing her best to stay hidden from him. Patch flew up to him as soon as he came through the door, holding a pair of knives. Captain Jack stopped, putting up his hands up.

“What the hell are those, Patch?”

“They were hidden in the man’s boots.” Patch handed the knives to Jessie. “He also had three cracked ribs and one broken rib from his fight with Ariis. Other than that, he’s fine.”

“Suppose I can’t blame him…” Jessie put the knives down on the table. “I wouldn’t want to be completely disarmed either…” He cleared his throat and looked up at Patch. “Is there anything else wrong with him?”

“No, Captain. He has a few bullet-hole scars and a number of other scars across his skin, but he’s a completely healthy ordinary human.”

“And the girl?” Jessie could almost swear Patch slumped before it gave him the news.

“Her augmentation has changed her body quite a bit. She’s barely even human any more, and her telepathy goes far beyond any scale we’ve ever seen…” Jessie was about to say something to Patch when it continued. “Also, she has a strange pair of birthmarks…”

“Patch, quit delaying. What’s wrong with her?”

“She has signs on her body of rape. Mister Hunter confirmed that for me that she had been…hired by two men, then raped by her pimp…That’s all the signs on her body, and they’re actually healing unexpectedly fast.”

“That’s good, isn’t it? She won’t have to live with the trauma long.”

“It is good, but…this is much more worrisome.” Patch hovered lower so it could project a medical display above it. It had one strong green line with many bends in it and a large number of dimmer lines. “All of the other lines there are distinct telepathic finger prints left by other instances of sexual assault and rape. There are so many, it’s hard to count. They overlay each other. It’s a miracle that she doesn’t have multiple personality disorder.”

“…explain.”

“She’s a telepath, Captain.” It said, putting up information about telepaths. “Every time a telepath mates, the telepath gives its partner its characteristics and it gets its partners. Both still have their complete personalities, and their personalities merge the mirror aspects of the other’s.” The display changed over Patch’s head. “On the other hand…when it’s rape, though, parts of the telepath’s personality are…burned out, and random parts of the rapist’s personality are jammed in, which damages and changes the person. It’s like having parts of other people in your head that just randomly interrupt your normal thoughts.”

Jessie looked at Constance, whose head seemed to slump even farther as he heard everything about her. It was all terrible, and Constance knew it. She felt as physically damaged as Patch was making her sound. She started to cry, tears sneaking out of her eyes. As she started to cry, Tasha came in the room, stopping in the doorway.

“Hey…” Tasha stopped in the doorway. “Why so sad, beautiful?”

“Don’t call me that…” Constance looked up at her. “I’m hideous…” Tasha sat down next to her. “You know what happened to me…How can I be beautiful after that?”

“I understand you’re depressed. You’ve been very badly hurt for a long time now. I know exactly what you’re going through…”

“YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHAT I’M GOING THROUGH!” Constance screamed and started to weep. She buried her face in her hands. Tasha stayed calm, taking Constance’s hands into hers.

“I’m sorry…” Tasha swung her legs back and forth slightly. “I didn’t mean…what rape was like, I meant…horrible pain.” She held her legs out. “See the shorter one? I was involved in a horrible car wreck when I was eight…My dad was taking me to the park as a kid, but our car was hit by a car going WAY too fast…” She lowered her legs, rubbing her cybernetic leg on the left. “He was running from the police, hit our car, pushed it into oncoming traffic and caused a multi-car pile-up. The idiot was killed instantly, but my leg was shattered and pinned…They had to amputate it to free me…Dad was always upset because all he got was a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder…”

Constance was silent while Tasha spoke. The memories were vivid in Tasha’s mind. Constance was almost reliving them through her perspective as she spoke. It was as painful as Tasha said, especially the amputation. Tasha was conscious through it, even with pain killers, and saw as they amputated it. Her mind filled in the pain she knew it would cause because of it. She rubbed the side of her temples, knowing she wasn’t supposed to go into people’s minds without asking them. Or, at the very least, she didn’t want to intrude into EVERYONE’S minds wherever she went.

“So, I’ve had a fake leg since I was seven…no…eight, that’s right. It was my eighth birthday…” Tasha moved her foot back and forth and in a circle. “I’ve had to get it replace with a bigger one a few times in my life…whenever I grow too big for it…and I’m coming up on the last time I’ll have to have it replaced here…hopefully…Because it always hurts like hell, and I always get horribly depressed when I get it replaced…so I…I…” Tasha stuttered, thinking she sounded stupid for comparing their pain. “I…sort of…kind of know what you’re going through, beautiful…”

Constance looked into Tasha’s eyes. She knew she just thought she would never go into someone’s mind without permission, but she had to know what Tasha was thinking. She had to know what Tasha actually thought. She went back into Tasha’s mind, only for a minute. For that brief minute, she saw herself as Tasha saw her. She saw how beautiful she really was, and knew it was how Tasha thought the rest of the crew thought she looked. She started to feel a strange, warm feeling in her mind. She stopped reading Tasha’s mind, jumping slightly. Tasha cringed slightly, shaking her head.

“Were…were you just in my mind?”

“I…I…please forgive me…” Tasha put her arm around her Constance.

“Don’t worry about it. It actually felt…kind-of good, but…I hope you didn’t find anything too embarrassing in there…” Constance shook her head.

“I…I just read your current thoughts and…jumped out when it started to get personal…If you…”

“Hey, enough about me.” Tasha said, holding up her hands slightly. “I should actually apologize to you…I eavesdropped on my dad’s conversation with Patch…I heard everything that happened to you…and I’m really sorry…” Constance turned away from her.

“I’m sorry, too…” She cried slightly. “Because I…I can’t stop crying, and I know you hate to see me cry…” Tasha put her hand on Constance’s shoulder.

“It’s okay…you can cry as much as you want with me…” Constance turned her head to look into Tasha’s eyes again. She resisted the urge to go into Tasha’s mind, but she knew Tasha would want to do whatever she could to comfort her. She began to cry and weep, burying her face in Tasha’s chest. Tasha put her arms around her, holding her warmly and gently.


Patch turned from the room where Tasha and Constance were. Jessie was tapping his feet. Patch shook slightly, displaying scans from both Tasha and Constance.

“Their telepathic scans merged briefly…”

“Whatever, just get back to what you’re saying. Is that girl going to be insane?”

“Now? No. We’re lucky we got to her when we did, though. While her own personality seems to be remarkably resilient, one can only take so much.” Jessie breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know what he could do with Constance if she were going to go crazy.

“I take it that means she can stay?” Jessie turned around and saw Hunter standing in the doorway. He had his fedora back on, adjusting it on his head.

“I see no reason why she couldn’t.” Patch spoke, but Jessie slapped it aside, sending it sailing through the air.

“There’s a lot of trouble that comes with carrying a stolen slave, Mister…”

“Hunter.” He said calmly, leaning against the wall. “All guilt would be put on me. I killed her owner. And you do have possible deniability in the fact that she…”

“She’s told everyone that she’s a sex slave, Hunter. A telepath search unit could pick that out of our mind in a blink.” Jessie turned from the room, facing him. Hunter was gritting his fists tightly, angered by the way Jessie was just bluntly talking about Constance. “Do you have any idea what kind of trouble having a stolen slave on our ship would cause?”

“About as much trouble as someone ratting on all of your ship’s illegal upgrades, am I right?” Hunter put his hand where his gun would usually be, forgetting for a brief instant that he had turned them over when he came on the ship.

“Is that a threat?” Hunter nodded once.

“I heard everything. If she goes back to her previous life, she’ll be driven insane.”

“It’s an imperfect world, Mister Hunter.”

“DAD!” Tasha yelled at him. He turned to the doorway to see Tasha standing there. “We are NOT sending her back to the brothel. It’d kill her!”

“Natasha, I’m sorry, but…”

“But nothing!” Tasha wasn’t comfortable with yelling at him, making her voice crack as she yelled. She’d protect Constance any way she could. “If you send her back, I…I’m going to go with her…”

“Tasha…You can’t be…”

“Someone has to protect her.” Tasha spoke strongly. She wasn’t bluffing when she threatened to leave with her, either. She was in almost the same state of disbelief as Jessie was, surprised by how far she was willing to go to protect someone she just met. Still, it needed to be done.

“DAMN IT!” Jessie punched the wall. Truth be told, his conscience was nagging him about keeping Constance, but there was the dilemma. He was the captain of the ship, and being the captain carried with it certain responsibilities. Sometimes, he had to ignore his conscience for the good of the ship. This was one of those times. Not just the police, but the mafia that owned the brothel, her owner’s family, some of Constance’s former clients, and possibly even scientists looking at her gene augmentation might come after them with her onboard. “Shit…I know I’m going to regret this, but she can stay.”

“Thanks, Daddy…” Tasha hugged him tightly. She hadn’t been this happy in a long time. Her heart was soaring after the news that Constance could stay. “I’ll never be able to pay you back for this.”

“Yeah, well…She’ll have to do something on the ship. Until we can find a job she can do on the ship, you’re paying for everything she needs, got me?”

“That’s fine.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Daddy…” Jessie smiled and hugged her back. Even though he was mad, feeling forced into having her onboard, he was quickly calming down. He could never stay mad at Tasha, no matter what she did. He rubbed Tasha’s back, then looked up at Hunter.

“You though, I want you off my ship.”

“Consider me gone,” Hunter said with a hat tip, “once I get my weapons back of course.” Tasha nodded.

“Of course…Follow me.” Tasha started walking out of the room. Hunter followed her slowly, picking up his poncho and putting it over his arm. As he was about to leave the room, Constance scrambled out of hers.

“Wait! Please wait!” She scurried over to them. “I…I want to stay with you as long as I can, Hunter.”

“Alright…” Hunter lit another cigarette, but didn’t let Constance take his hand again. He knew it would make the break harder on her. Before they left the room, Constance walked over to Jessie and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you for letting me stay.” Jessie smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. He was slightly overwhelmed by the feeling of joy he got from Constance when she kissed him. Knowing how happy she was made everything worth it. He watched as Constance went back to Tasha’s side, taking her hand as she walked.


After Hunter had his weapons back, he was finally at ease, knowing he could defend himself now. The whole time, Constance was walking the halls with Tasha, holding her hand as they went. Tasha didn’t mind, knowing it made Constance happy and that made her happy.

“You…you’re going to pay for everything I need until I can get a job on the ship?” Tasha nodded. “But I can’t do anything…”

“Sure you can, we’ll find something, and until then, don’t worry. It’s not like I’m strapped for cash.” Constance hung her head.

“I don’t want to be a burden…”

“You won’t be.” Constance still hung her head. She didn’t want to leech off her new friend, but the only thing she knew she could do was prostitution. “You know, it’s weird, but I feel really comfortable around you…” She whispered. “I mean, really comfortable…”

“Maybe we met in a past life, because I feel the same way…” Constance said quietly.

“Nah, I’m sure it’s probably because you’re so gorgeous…” Tasha gasped. “I mean…” She blushed brightly as Hunter looked back at her over his shoulder.0

“It’s okay…” A smile snuck onto Constance’s face. “It’s okay…It’s good to know someone still thinks I’m beautiful…”

“I think it’s because you’re so unique…You’ve got an unearthly beauty to you.” Constance nodded. Secretly, she hated the way she looked now, knowing it was because she was an Augment. She didn’t know why she hated augments. She couldn’t figure it out herself. Augments had never done anything to her, and Jeremiah and the other slave had never taught her anything outside of her profession.

That’s when she remembered everything she got from Tasha and Jessie’s minds. It had to have been forced into her mind by one of her clients, or possibly even Jeremiah. The main reason people hated Augments wasn’t because they did anything to them, after all. Most people were just jealous of Augments’ special abilities and unique look. She figured she’d do her best to ignore the hate in the back of her mind and accept herself.

“There’s so much I want to talk to you about, Constance. So many questions I’ve been afraid to ask anyone else.” As they walked, both Jessie and Ariis came running up to them from opposite directions. Ariis rushed up behind Hunter, grabbing him by the next and slamming him against the wall. While he was stunned, she pulled off his gun belt.

“Ariis! What are you doing!?” Tasha tried to pull Ariis off him, but Jessie stopped him. “Dad!”

“I’m sorry, Tasha…but…the police have showed up.” He pointed out the window. Around the ship were a dozen police fighters and on the ground near it were a huge number of police cars and tanks. “They say…they say that we have to give Constance back to them…so they can sell her and make some of the money back her pimp owed the state…and turn over Hunter for her pimp’s murder, or they’ll open fire.”

“Wh…what?” Constance clung to Tasha tightly. “I’m not going back! You said it’d drive me insane!”

“Dad! You just said Constance could stay!”

“I know, Tasha, but…”

“We can fight our way out of here!” Tasha put her arms around Constance. “We’ve faced worse odds than a handful of fighters!”

“Tasha, most of the crew of the ship is on vacation. We can’t leave them behind, and there would be no chance of coming back for them.” He put his hand on Tasha’s shoulder. He knew he could never explain to her how hard it was for him, too. He was liking the idea that Tasha would have someone her own age on the ship to be friends with. Now, that was gone. “And they have colonial ships in orbit waiting for us…We don’t have a chance of escape…”

“No…won’t go back…Can’t go back…” Constance started crying and trembling, burying her face in Tasha’s chest. Tasha rubbed her arms, doing her best to not cry herself.

“Don’t cry…I won’t let them take you…” Constance nodded. “Dad…there has to be SOMETHING we can do…”

“I just don’t know what we can do…but we can try…” He put his hand on Constance’s shoulder. “But you’re going to have to do what I say, Constance…You’re going to have to go to the police with us.”

“What about Hunter?”

“I can take care of myself, Miss Constance…” He growled while Ariis dropped him to the ground, pressing a plasma rifle against his back. “Don’t worry about me.”

Ariis shoved Hunter down the hallway with the barrel of the plasma rifle she had. It was small to her, to the point that she couldn’t even really fit both hands on the gun at the same time. Still, it was enough to kill Hunter with a single shot. He hated being defenseless again, though he knew it was his own fault. Ever since he came onto the ship, he had been letting his guard down. Now he had to pay for it, or at least that’s what he thought.


The police were waiting in the hangar already. As soon as they saw Hunter, they rushed over, hit him in the stomach and dragged him away from Ariis. Ariis was mad, angry that they were stealing her catch. It didn’t take them long to spot Constance and rush towards her. They were all in swat gear and heavily armed. They were horribly demonic looking, jet black and entirely covered in thick, faceted combat armor. Each one of them had a heavy assault rifle in their hands and countless battery-clips on their belts.

“You will return the slave at once.” They pointed their rifles at Tasha as she turned, putting herself between Constance and the police.

“I’m not letting you sell her back into slavery. Her owner’s dead, you should let her…NYAH!” One of the policemen was tired of waiting, taking out a small electrical taser and pressing it into Tasha’s back. It sent a bolt of electricity ripping through her entire body, making her cybernetic leg give out completely. Constance screamed as the policeman pulled Tasha off of her.

“You dare attack her for protecting a frightened child!?” Ariis yelled, rushing the policeman and grabbing him by the head, turning and throwing him into the other policemen as they aimed their rifles at her.

“Whoa!” Jessie shouted, helping Tasha up. “All we want to know is if there’s any possibility we could buy Constance?”

“You would have to wait until next month when she’s up on auction.”

“But she’s…a person…” Tasha gasped for breath, Jessie helping her up to her feet. “And you owe us for TASERING me!”

Constance looked over at Hunter, waiting for him to do something or say something to help. She knew he’d say something to come to her rescue, but he stayed silent. He wasn’t afraid, but he wasn’t coming to her aid.

“How much would it cost to buy her outright right now?”

“One hundred and fifty million is what we’re expecting making off her.” One of the police men said. None of them could be sure who said it, all of them wearing masks that covered their faces. Jessie gasped.

“…One hundred and fifty million? That’s how much this ship cost!”

“She’s a young girl, with many years ahead of her, and she’s an augment with an extremely unique look to her. She’ll take in huge amount of cash.”

“But that’s unreasonable!”

Ariis walked over to Constance while they were talking back and forth. She ran her hand along the side of Constance’s face the same way she had done to Tasha earlier. Constance sighed, letting her without any major complaint. Constance looked up at her.

“What are you doing? Now’s not the time to…” Ariis shushed her.

“If you’re quiet, this will go faster.” She stood behind her. She ran her hands along Constance’s sides and hips. She held her up slightly, seeing how tall she was. From her hips to the top of her head was the same distance from Ariis’ hips to the top of her shoulders. She tilted her head, putting her back down. “Do you have any disfiguring scars?”

“…I have a couple of birthmarks…one between my breasts and one on my back.”

“That reminds me…” She cupped Constance’s breasts slightly, then her butt. “How big are the birthmarks?”

“About the size of my fist…” She sighed again as Ariis groped at her body. She could feel the thoughts of the policemen turning to Ariis as she ‘inspected’ Constance. “Please stop…”

“Do you know your way around a woman?” Constance nodded.

“Yes, I was trained…to be pleasing for both women and men of most races.” Ariis smiled and nodded. Constance had the advantage of being a ‘professional’, and that’s exactly what she wanted. Ariis looked up at the police and raised her hand.

“Three hundred million.” She shouted, interrupting the bickering between the police, Jessie, and Tasha.

“What?”

“I will pay three hundred million for you to sell her to me and erase her records.”

“Very funny, Miss, but we…” Ariis grabbed the policeman that dared to patronize her, lifting him up by the neck.

“I’m a Princess of Akyllis! I could rend you limb from limb should I so choose. Three hundred million is only a TRINKET to me!”

“Ariis…You can’t be serious…” Tasha whined slightly.

“I’m tired of living like a peasant on this ship. I want a servant and I need a courtesan before I go insane!” She turned to the police. “I have the money in my quarters.” The head policeman nodded, letting Ariis go. As she left, he shouted to her.

“You better bring that proof of diplomatic immunity back with you, too, or we’re going to have to have to charge you with…”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ariis ran off into the ship, disappearing with a small gust of wind.

Tasha put her hands on Constance’s shoulders. She could tell Constance was bothered, biting her thumbnail again. She put her hands on Constance’s shoulders.

“Constance…” Tasha put her head on her shoulder. “You don’t have to be bought by Ariis…We could…” Tasha continued to talk, but Constance didn’t hear her. She was looking at Hunter, wondering why he didn’t buy her. She would be so happy with him, or at least she thought so. Still, he was silent, just lighting another cigarette.

“Your family would go broke buying me…and I really don’t mind being bought by a woman…” Constance hung her head. “I…I hate men…they’re all selfish and…and…” Constance started to cry, but managed to make herself stop. “…all they care about is…getting off…”

“It’s the Hunter thing, isn’t it? Are you okay?” Tasha whispered to her.

“I will be…” She whispered back.

Ariis came running back with a small for her bag in her hand. The policemen backed away slightly, intimidated by her blinding speed. She opened the bag and pulled out four crystals shaped like bars.

“These are Akyllisian gems. Their worth is legendary.” She handed them to the police one-by-one, going to a different policeman for each one. Their weight was too great to give more than two to each. “Donate the extra to your military.”

“Will do. You may keep the girl, Princess Ariis, and please forgive any unintentional insult.” Ariis nodded but didn’t say anything to them. “Move it, murderer.” He slammed his rifle into Hunter’s back. He bore the blow and kept going. He was already planning how he’d get away once he was out of the ship, but Ariis spoke up again.

“OH, by the way,” Ariis spoke up, walking over to Constance, putting her hands on her shoulders and holding her close to her, “with me onboard, this ship is technically a diplomatic vessel with the same rights as an embassy. So, if you take that man without my permission, you’ll be committing an act of war.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m deadly serious.” Ariis said sternly. “That man sought our sanctuary, and we gave it to him. If you take him, I’ll call the Legions of Akyllis down on this planet and raze every city to the ground.”

“Fine…” The policeman shoved Hunter back towards the crew. “But he damn well better not show up on this planet OUTSIDE of your ship, or we’ll put a bullet in his ass ON SIGHT.” The police quickly left the ship, closing the hangar behind them. Hunter walked over to Ariis, who had his gun belt over her shoulder.

“What were you planning to do with these?” He pulled the belt off Ariis’ shoulder, quickly putting it back on.

“We were going to keep them so the Police wouldn’t have any evidence against you…” Tasha said timidly.

“Then we were going to sell them.” Ariis said and laughed as she saw anger twinge across Hunter’s face. She knew how angry someone selling one of her weapons would make her, and that’s what made it so funny to her. “You could have tracked them down later.”

“Next time you rush me, I’m going to…”

“Don’t get too carried away with idle threats. Don’t forget, I saved your ass. You officially owe me one.” Ariis put her hand on her chin. “Though…” She grabbed Hunter by the color and pulled him close. There were some things that even Ariis realized were improper for a princess to say. “…give me a good fuck and we’ll call it even.”

“Well…” Hunter looked her over. He couldn’t deny that she had the body of a goddess even if she had the personality of a brick wall. If he had to sleep with her o get her support in the future, that’s what he’d do. Plus, he was still frustrated from not getting to spend some time with the girls at the brothel. “…not go to prison and get to fuck a beautiful woman? Must be my lucky day.”

“Only if you stay quiet about it…” She whispered back to him when she thought the others might have heard them. “Most men on the ship are afraid I’m going to break them…” She dropped him. “Probably rightly so…”

“I’m not going to be intimidated.” He flicked his cigarette butt away, and was about to speak again when Ariis turned away from him. She pushed Constance along, walking out of the hangar. Constance looked at Tasha, following her with her eyes until they were completely out of the hangar. Hunter tilted his head again, wondering if Ariis was just teasing him. Jessie walked over to him.

“Listen, I STILL don’t want you on my ship, but since we’re stuck with you…”

“Trust me. I’m leaving as soon as I can.” He adjusted his belt. “I don’t want to be on a pirate ship. I know what you all do, and I won’t abide by it.”

“We don’t all…” Tasha hung her head as she spoke. Just about the only thing they didn’t do that most pirates did was take and sell slaves. Everything else was, to quote Captain Jack, ‘up to the conscience of the crew’, and a good portion of the crew had no conscience what so ever. “You must be tired and hungry. Let me show you to a room you can use on the ship, and I’ll get you some food.” Hunter nodded and followed her into the ship. He was surprised that she shook off the taser so easily, though she was still in pain from it. Her cybernetic leg hadn’t recovered completely yet. Combined with Constance being bought by Ariis, she was so depressed she could barely stand. Still, whatever helped distract her was worth the pain from her leg. “We’ll introduce you to the crew when they get back, so we can be sure there won’t be any…accidents while you’re on the ship.”

“I can hardly wait…”


Ariis showed Constance to her quarters through the long hallways of the ship. When she got to the quarters, she put her hands on Constance’s shoulders.

“Don’t leave this spot.” She opened the door to her quarters and walked in. The door closed behind her and it was a minute before she came out again. “Alright, it’s safe for you to come in.”

“Yes, Master…” Constance walked in, feeling heavier as soon as she was through the door. She sighed and groaned slightly, walking over to Ariis. “What’s…wrong in here?”

“My quarters have their own dedicated gravity generator, so they may replicate the conditions on my home world. My muscles would have atrophied long ago if I had to live in your pathetic gravity.” Ariis picked Constance up, putting her down on a couch in her room. Everything inside had a rid, militaristic design that had intricate pattern of curves etched into their surface to give it flair. “I’ve turned it far down, but it’s still above one-g.”

“Wah…why?” Constance gasped slightly. Even the air was thicker and a little harder to breathe in Ariis’ quarters.

“Because if you are to be my courtesan, you must get use to the gravity, and the best way to do it is one step at a time. Gradually, we’ll increase your strength. You’ll get more muscular and get extra strength in less gravity, a little like me.” Constance nodded. She wanted to argue that she felt like passing out in her gravity, but she wouldn’t argue with her new owner.

“Yes, Master…”

“You will have all the benefits of being my royal courtesan. I will buy you the finest clothes and anything your heart desires, and believe me, money is no object. We have an entire wing of the ship, a total of twenty rooms, and you may do whatever you wish with the rooms I have not used. By day, you will be free to do as you will, unless I wish otherwise, and you’ll spend your nights in passion with me.” Constance smiled slightly. Ariis was the first person to treat her like a person. “Do you have any objections?”

“No, Master…”

“Now…” Ariis leaned forward slightly, unhooking her breastplate and sliding it off. She stretched her arms over her head, flaunting her large breasts for Constance. “…why don’t we get down to business?” Ariis said as she gently slid the straps of her dress, gently kissing her neck.

“Master Ariis…” Constance moaned slightly as Ariis slid her dress down her body. “I…I’ve been through so much today…I…” Ariis kissed her deeply, running her hand down her stomach. She wasn’t use to someone being tender and loving with her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. I know how fragile you humans are…” Ariis kissed her on the neck again. Constance let go of all of the worries and problems she had clouding her mind. Ariis laid her gently down on the couch, caressing her body. She got lost in everything, forgetting all the pain that happened to her in the morning.


Tasha and Jessie still had group quarters, technically. Really, it was what most would consider two separate apartments with a big common’s room between them. Usually, both Jessie and Tasha had a father-daughter night at least once a week, but since one of the last families with a teenager left the ship, Tasha was the only teen on the ship. Because of that, they had been spending a lot of time together.

“She can’t just buy a person, Dad!” Tasha yelled slightly. “All she is going to do is use her as a slave and for sex!”

“Look, I don’t like the idea of women having sex on the ship, too…especially if it’s not consensual, but she bought her fair and square…” Tasha groaned at everything Jessie said. “Besides, Ariis could use a maid.”

“We all have to clean our own rooms, why shouldn’t Ariis?”

“Because she helped pay for the ship and has gotten us out of a LOT of jams.” Jessie said, getting a bottle of whisky out of the cabinet and pouring himself a shot. “And she stayed on the ship, despite that one soldier we had going nuts and trying to…”

“Yeah, I know. ‘Oh no, the princess’s face is scarred!’ Whoopty-shit!”

“Tasha, watch your language. She was almost…you know…” Jessie was very conservative about sex. It wasn’t that he hated homosexuals. It was just that he was a ‘breeding first, fun second’ type of guy when it came to sex, making homosexual sex amoral in his mind. The people were fine to him. To add to things, all talk about sex was awkward for him since his wife died, and he had enough sex talk for the day.

“She threw the guy through a STEEL DOOR, Dad! For all we know, she was hitting on him, and when things got a little out of hand, she killed him!”

“That’s not what happened and you know it.” Jessie took a shot of whisky. “Though it shouldn’t have taken a genius to figure out what would happen you try to force a girl that’s three-hundred pounds of muscle to do something she doesn’t want.”

“Whatever! Still, we have to get Constance away from her!”

“Tasha…” He poured her a shot, an unusual gesture for him, “the fact is, Constance is property, like it or not. I know you feel really badly for her, but…well, life’s a bitch.” He pushed the glass towards her. “Drink this. It’ll make you feel better…” She drank the shot and her body wretched.

“What am I suppose to do, Dad?” She put the glass down on the table. “Drink a shot whenever it gets too much for me to bear?”

“Tasha, it won’t be THAT bad. So she has to do what Ariis asks, it’s not like she likes to live clean, and so what? She has to have sex with Ariis. She’s going to live better than ALL OF US on the ship.”

“That’s not the…” Tasha growled. “You know what? Forget it! How can you POSSIBLY understand!?” Tasha stormed into her quarters, locking the door behind her. She ignored Jessie as he knocked on the door, trying to plead with her for forgiveness of whatever mistake he made. Tasha started weeping, burying her face in her hands and sliding down her door.

Truth be told, Jessie knew why Tasha was mad at him. His conscience was far from clear. He had done some unsavory things in his time, and he knew it. He hung his head, taking a swig from his whisky, collapsing into his chair. He wanted to forget everything, briefly, but he knew he wouldn’t.