Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Tears threatened to overflow my eyes. I wiped them away with the back of my hand. It was just sex. It was just the final test for the Collector. Why would I think there was any emotion there? Anger, sadness, and fear fought within me for supremacy. I stomped them all down and chose numbness. Then I stood from the bed and searched for my sliver of a dress. I fumbled to put it back on while the sound of talking filtered in from the main living quarters. When the voices stopped, I exited the bedroom. Krake's eyes met mine, face impassive as always, when I joined him, dressed again in the barely-there green glittery cloth straps that pretended to be a complete outfit.

"Are you ready for the Auction?" he asked.

A wave of dizziness hit me. Somehow, I forgot it was tonight. Now.

"Are you ready for the Auction?" he repeated his question, a sound like uncertainty coloring his voice.

With a deep breath, I nodded and walked to stand beside him. I gazed up at him, trying to hold on to the numbness I had cultivated. "I'm ready."

Krake sniffed in response but said nothing.

I remained quiet, like a good Obedient, I supposed, waiting for him to work through whatever was distracting him.

"Are you certain?" he asked.

"Yes," I said dully. "What else do you need me to say?"

"Let us commence."

With that pronouncement, Krake took my elbow again and led me out of his quarters. This time, I took no notice or pleasure of anything we passed. I needed to prepare myself for the new life ahead of me. Technically, I hadn't even signed a contract with the Collector. I didn't know if I'd need to do that before negotiating my contract with the male who purchased me. Nausea roiled at the thought. The male who purchased me? Would it be the gray man from dinner earlier? That had only been a couple of hours ago, but already felt like years. Would I ever see Earth again? I assumed not. Interestingly, that still didn't cause me any distress. My life on Earth hadn't been so earth-shattering. I almost chuckled at my ridiculous thoughts.

Would I ever see Krake again? I glanced at him in my peripheral vision, awed anew by his iridescent skin covering human facial features worthy of a male supermodel. He must have sensed me looking because his head turned.

Our eyes met.

Mine began to refill with tears, so I stared straight ahead again. I needed to prepare for my new life. To forget about Krake. I barely knew him. So what that he saved me from being thrown out of an airlock? So what that I just had the best sex of my entire life? So what that we'd shared several intimate moments?

None of that mattered. I was an unexpected side job and finder's fee. That was all.

We reached a double set of doors. Before I had the chance to ponder why external doors differed from internal doors on the ship, the metal ones before us slid open to allow entry.

This was yet another new room, much like an auditorium, with an actual stage at the far end, complete with rows of metal chairs in front. I now suspected they would be like the bed, conforming to our shapes with an exquisite level of comfort.

Well, not me, I corrected myself. I'd be up on the stage. There were already a couple of dozen human females on the stage, making me realize it was bigger than I'd guessed. I saw Olive and a few others from dinner, but many I did not recognize. Aliens of a variety of shapes and sizes, and all the colors of a color wheel, filled most of the seats around the stage.

Krake directed me toward a purple-skinned male with white hair who sat behind a floating metal table. "I am Krake Qask bringing Bailey Wicker."

"Ah, yes, Mr. Qask, the Collector informed us of your addition." The purple-skinned alien had a melodious voice—and a very piercing gaze as he checked me out from head to toe. When he nodded, I exhaled. "She will do nicely." He offered me a wide smile. "Welcome, Bailey. We hope you find the match of your dreams."

His jovial tone threw me for a moment before I remembered that for these women, they wanted this. They asked for this. Competed to be included. "Thank you," I stuttered.

"You may escort her to the stairs and she can join the others. We will start in—" He glanced at me again. "—about fifteen Earth minutes."

I appreciated the consideration and it hit me that was why everyone I'd met spoke English to me. I wondered idly if they really knew it, or if it was some alien translation device.

Krake gave a curt nod of his head and then led me by the elbow to the stairs on the side of the stage closest to us. "Good luck, Bailey Wicker. It has been… interesting being part of this Auction." His eyes searched mine, but his tone sounded flat. He'd already dismissed me.

"Thank you, Krake," I responded by rote. "I'm glad I'm not dead." It was the best I could do.

He chirped a brief laugh. "I will be seated in the back to make certain there are no irregularities. Though I do not expect there to be any," he rushed to add, perhaps seeing my eyes widen in anxiety at what could go wrong. With that, he spun on his heel and stalked away.

I watched for a moment and turned to face my future. The stairs were short but felt a mile long. Then I was on the stage.

"Bailey! Over here."

I narrowed in on Olive, waving me over to sit beside her. Gratitude flooded me and I hurried to take the offered seat.

"I can't believe it's here," she said in an excited but hushed voice. "It's finally here."

She seemed so genuinely excited that I didn't have the heart to squash that. So instead of voicing my terror of getting someone horrible, I smiled broadly and offered a version of my truth. "I never thought this time would arrive."

Before she could respond, a deep voice grabbed all our attention.

"Welcome to the Auction. I am the Collector."

I gasped at the sight, though I shouldn't have been surprised. Instead of the human female the Collector had presented as before, now a seven-foot tall violet alien with four arms, furry skin, and a swishing cat-like tail stood in front of the chairs on the stage.

The human females scrambled to sit as the Collector continued.

"Let us begin with a 54-year-old human female called Jessica."

At the Collector's introduction, a black-haired woman with a runner's build stood. She moved confidently to stand beside the Collector. Without a word from our host, she stepped out of her barely-there dress, holding her hands out wide, presenting her nude self to the assembled aliens in the audience. She turned in a circle, stuck her ass out, and looked over her shoulder flirtatiously. The Collector opened bids in a type of currency I didn't recognize and the auction began.

Holy shit.

The night continued, but my mind went blank. Nothingness. Everything was gone. There was no way I could do this, so I accepted that after I failed to perform when my name was called, someone would toss me out of the airlock.

There was a comfort in accepting your impending death.

"The next Obedient is a 28-year-old human female called Bailey."

At the Collector's introduction, I slammed back into my mind and body. But I didn't move.

"A human female called Bailey," the Collector repeated, turning to glare purple cat's eyes at me.

My return gaze reflected my complete disinterest in the proceedings and acceptance of my death. Or so I thought. A desire to not die surged through me. Fuck all of this lot. I'd flirt my way to the best male present and negotiate one hell of a contract.

I jumped to my feet, smiled at the Collector and assembled aliens, and sauntered to the front of the stage. The rows of chairs were not visible from where I stood. A hot spotlight captured me. I knew from watching the other women what was expected.

A slight shrug and a tug at my dress removed it with ease. I pushed my exposed breasts up and out, placed my hands on my hips, and sashayed in a circle, making certain all the males could see what they'd be getting.

Krake's face flashed in my mind and I kicked it out. He was part of my past already.

The Collector's voice sounded in my ears, but the words had become unintelligible, drowned out by my increasingly frantic thoughts. I stood frozen in the spotlight as the words surrounded me and fell away. I held my sexy pose, waiting for it to be over.

And then it was.

The Collector uttered the word that I'd been waiting for, that sent fear scuttling down my spine, threatening to drop me to the floor of the stage.

"Sold!"