Tessi

TESSI

I exited Pulsar, a backpack full of my cosmetics and personal gear dangling from my right shoulder. In my left hand, I held the indenture contract which would now be passed over to Alkard.

And in my chest, a tiny, feeble flicker of hope.

Could Alkard really help me find Mera?

In any event, it was too late now. I had made the deal. Now I had to honor it.

I made my way across the Promenade. A number of sentient beings paused in the middle of the main thoroughfare, staring straight up. On instinct, I did the same.

The undulating, slowly hovering form of an Uune hung up near the ceiling. Tiny appendages extended like fingers, or tentacles, from the top of its roughly conical body. What it was up to, nobody knew. The Uune had created the station, and continued to add shells onto it, as well as performing general maintenance.

All of that, and nobody had ever spoken to one. The prevailing theory of the Uune said they were more like robots or hive insects than actually sentient beings. They seemed to have no language.

How they coordinated their efforts to build and maintain the station I had no idea.

I pulled my eyes from the Uune near the ceiling. It had been a nice momentary distraction, but I had other things on my mind.

I should have been thinking of how to find Mera.

Or worrying about what working in this new club would be like.

What the clients would want, expect.

Instead, Alkard loomed large in my thoughts.

My hand moved up to brush the bite mark on my neck lightly. It didn't hurt, really, but I felt its presence on both the physical and mental planes.

Alkard had marked me.

Did that mean I was his property?

My entire body felt flushed at the thought.

Did that… could that possibly turn me into one?

I shook my head to clear it of such nonsense. It didn't work, not really. I worked my way over to the starboard side wing where the Fallen Star was located.

I had never been to the Vinduthi club, but I'd heard of it. Upon my first approach, I noted it was much larger than Pulsar.

I moved up to the front door, which was guarded by an orcish Dargun. His hairy arms were crossed over his equally hairy chest, and he snorted with derision at my approach.

"And just where do you think you're going, little miss?" he growled, eyes narrowing as I drew nearer.

I was taken aback. I had expected Alkard to have at least told his people I was coming.

Had he gotten busy and forgotten me already?

"I—I'm here to work. Alkard just bought my contract."

"Oh, he did, did he?" The green skinned alien sneered, showing off yellowing teeth. "Like we don't have enough girls here already. Well, far be it from me to question the decisions of the big boss. I guess you should go ahead and go in."

"You think?" I asked, putting one hand on my hip and glaring at him.

He considered me for a moment, seeming as if he were going to say something mean, or even try to discipline me, then his gaze flashed to the healing wound on my neck. The bouncer's eyes went wide, and he quickly stepped to the side to allow my ingress.

"Go on ahead, Miss," he said in a much more polite tone. "I didn't realize you were…"

His voice trailed off as I moved past him.

I was what?

But whatever time I'd had for speculation was long gone now.

Inside, the Fallen Star proved to be far more upscale than I had expected. A rich, blood red carpet with black and gold abstract designs in a vine-like pattern soaked up the fatigue from my feet.

Opulent hovering globes provided the illumination, decorated to look like shooting stars or comets, frozen in flight as if in the night sky.

There were no less than four stages, the largest of which dwarfed the ones at Pulsar. A Mondian female spun around the pole on the main stage, to the cheering delight of the patrons.

I looked around for the floor boss. There had to be one. I spotted a female Dargun at the bar, busily setting up dozens of bottles of booze.

"Hey," I said, walking up to the bar. "I'm, ah, I'm starting work here today."

The Dargun looked me up and down and snorted as if not impressed.

"Is that so?"

I laid the contract on the bar but the Dargun woman barely glanced at it.

"Whatever. You can go and change in the back. When you're ready, go to the tangerine stage and do your thing."

"Um, thanks…."

I waited for the Dargun to introduce herself.

"I'm Tessi," I said at length.

"Zanthat," the Dargun said as she thrust a funnel into the neck of one of the bottles. She picked up a pitcher and poured water into the funnel. "Now, scram. You bother me."

Oookay, I muttered beneath my breath.

Same shit, different day.

I went into the back, and tried to speak to the other dancers. They completely ignored me until I got right in the path of an Ewani stripper on her way out the door.

"Excuse me," I said, gesturing at the row of mirrors on the long vanity. "Are any of those places free?"

I knew better than to take someone else's spot. Dancers could get pretty competitive about that sort of thing.

The Ewani shrugged with an utterly smug and disaffected expression on her furred face before she pushed roughly past me.

"Gee, thanks," I sighed.

"Great. Another little human here to steal the tips."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Zonda," a human girl said. She turned her dark eyes toward me and smiled. "Hey, welcome to Fallen Star. It's nice to see another human face in here. I'm Lucia."

I returned the smile and shook the other dancer's hand.

"Thanks. I'm Tessi. I'm sorry, I didn't…it's not like I asked for my contract to be bought you know?"

"I know. Just ignore these bitches. Here, you can take this spot. It's been empty ever since Katie left."

Lucia glanced up at the sound of her name being called.

"Fuck, I've got to get going. See you around, Tessi."

"See you."

As I got ready for my shift, I used the mirror to check out the other dancers. None of them looked friendly, but maybe that was just a fa?ade. Maybe they were just waiting for me to speak first.

"So, how is it working here?" I started off.

Silence.

"Zanthat, the manager," I tried again. "Is she pretty fair?"

Nothing. Well then. That answered the question in a different way.

I finished ‘dressing,' if one could call it that, and headed out to the tangerine stage… except all the stages were the same color. I started to ask one of the girls, then turned and asked a customer instead.

The patron sniffed as if not impressed with me—he seemed to prefer the scaled Mondian dancer on the stage to my smooth skin—but he did direct me to the smallest stage.

Glancing around the room, Alkard was nowhere to be seen.

My cheeks heated. Did I want him here? Was I looking forward to seeing him again?

At the stage, I sighed. I expected too much.

And none of it mattered, anyway.

I was here to dance, nothing else.

No surprise, about a minute into my routine, a tentacle ran up my thigh.

Fuck, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Is this even a different day?

"Don't touch the girls, motherfucker!"

Suddenly, Zanthat was just there, grabbing the tentacled patron by the scruff of his neck and lifting him until his feet dangled off the floor. The Dargun floor boss was easily as tall as Alkard, and apparently had the same temper.

"I'm sorry, I just forgot the rules!" the Talimarian squeaked. "I'll keep my probes to myself!"

Eww.

Zanthat dropped him back into his chair, then the Dargun looked up at me and scowled.

"Why are you just standing there? Shake that ass already."

I went back into my routine, my cheeks flushing, but no one else dared to touch me. There was one advantage at least.

I finished my dance, and was surprised to find my percomm was stocked with hundreds of credits. The patrons of the Fallen Star were either generous or horny or both.

Probably both.

I went back into the dressing room and covered my naughty bits so I could wait tables until my next turn to dance came up on the rotation.

The other dancers bitterly grumbled about my coming in and taking their rightful places.

I sighed, and headed back out onto the floor.

I had to do this to find Mera.

That was the deal, right?