Izzy

IZZY

“ Y ou?” Yelii glares at me, her slit pupil eyes unblinking as Oykig don’t have eyelids. “You’re going to be one of us?” She flicks her tail up. “Not if I have anything to do with it, dirty little skivvy.”

“The madame has already agreed,” Riklinn says gleefully, linking her arm with mine. “And I’m going back to dancing for a while too.”

I don’t let my gaze leave Yelii for a moment. It’s well known Oykig females are the warriors in her species, and I’ve seen her put some moves on the customers in the past, especially when she thought the madame wouldn’t find out.

“No self-respecting male would be interested in scrap like you.” Yelii huffs.

“Good thing this pleasure house isn’t frequented by self-respecting males,” I retort.

The last thing I want is an argument with her. My stomach is already clenched tight with nerves. I think of the credits, and I think of how last night I watched the space ships come and go from Tatatunga’s space port, desperate to be on one leaving.

There has to be another planet, not like this, where I can settle down, do something useful, do anything, but not have to clear up after alien sex.

I know there’s no chance of getting back to Earth. It’s too far away for most in this galaxy to contemplate using the star fuel to reach. An ancient backwards place no one pays any attention to. I don’t think I’ll even have enough credits to make it home.

But at least if I bump uglies with a few alien males, I’ll have enough to get the hell off Trefa.

There’s a set of shrieks outside the rest room, and it takes Yelii’s attention from me briefly as her two erstwhile friends, a heavy-set Habosu called Vodica and a delicate, horned, four-armed Erithix, her skin flashing teal, which is not normally a good sign, enter the space.

“He used it on you, Xenti?” Vodica’s usually piggy eyes are wide with shock. “Even though he knew it’s against house policy?”

Xenti sits down gingerly.

“He did,” she says, her voice hollow and metallic like all her species. “He said he’d give me extra, and you know I need the credits for the party dress I want.”

“You took a Voltes’ knot for a dress?” Yelii blurts out, her eyes practically on stalks and her hands on her hips. “How much did he give you?”

Xenti narrows her bright blue eyes, one pair of hands in her lap, the other pair waving in the air as she stalls for time.

“One hundred?”

“For a knot?” Yelii snorts, folding her arms, but the gesture comes too late. She’s rattled.

“What’s a knot?” I whisper to Riklinn.

Unfortunately, Yelii overhears me.

“This little…thing,” Yelii sneers, “has decided she wants to join our ranks, but she doesn’t know what a knot is.” She says it loudly.

The other two titter behind their hands as Yelii looms over me.

“If you don’t even know something so simple, how can you possibly hope to pleasure a male?” she adds with a cold tone.

“I’m a fast learner.” I stand, my five foot five to her six foot plus.

Yelii is a bully, everyone knows it, and I’ve had enough, especially the way she treats others, even those who consider themselves her friends.

“I can do whatever you can do,” I say, rather unwisely.

Yelii’s tail twitches.

“You sure about that?”

“Try me.”

“Come on, ,” Riklinn says, tugging on my arm. “You can have a look at my wardrobe and see if there’s anything which fits before you get your first client. And we can get you started on the birth control.”

“Okay.” I feel like I’m backing down, but I don’t expect this to be the last run-in I have with the Oykig female. Becoming a pleasure worker wasn’t going to be easy, but she’s going to make it doubly difficult.

I follow Riklinn through the maze of passages which form the accommodation quarters of the pleasure house until we get to her room. Like mine, it’s tiny, holding a single bed, a couple of storage containers, and a screen which can be used for watching vids or the alien equivalent of surfing the internet.

But while I have a translator inserted in my brain by my abductors, it doesn’t work for text, so while I’ve learnt a few symbols, such as those for the dehydrator and cleaning items, I haven’t had the time to learn any more, and given the broadcasts which appear on the screen are covered in the symbols, watching them is such a chore, I don’t bother.

“Sit, sit.” Riklinn busies herself in pulling outfits from her storage and holding them up for inspection.

I sit on the bed.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” I say. “Maybe Yelii is right. If I don’t know what a knot is, then what chance have I got if he has…tentacles…or something?”

“I’m not one to give you an answer, not yet really,” Riklinn trills. “But a knot is something a few species have. It’s at the base of his, you know.” She blushes and looks down at her crotch. “And it swells…inside.”

“Inside?” I query gormlessly.

“Inside you,” Riklinn squeaks.

“Oh!” What she’s saying suddenly dawns on me. “Do all…species have this?”

“No.” Riklinn flaps her hand at me in amusement. “Most don’t.”

I’m not sure if I should be taking advice from her, or instead worrying about what I’ve let myself in for. But if I want off this space rock, it’s in for a penny, in for a pound. And as it is apparently against the rules to “knot” a pleasure worker, then I suppose I’m safe. For the moment.

“Most also don’t have tentacles.” Riklinn is quieter. “Most of them are quite kind too, when you don’t want to…you know.”

I’m struck again at how she ended up here of all places when she can’t even name the act.

“Here.” She holds out a dress which is essentially strips of silk held together by gauze. “You’ll look stunning in this. Try it on,” she exhorts me.

I pull my cleaning tabard over my head, shimmy out of the rest of my clothes, and let Riklinn help me into the dress.

It shows…everything…down to what I had for breakfast.

Riklinn squeals in delight. “Told you! Oh, the customers are going to be falling over themselves for you, I guarantee it!”

The hollow in the pit of my stomach opens up further. It looks like I’m committed to this course of action. I can only hope it will be for as short a time as possible.