Sophia

SOPHIA

I always wondered what aliens got out of seeing a human strip.

When I first started dancing, I expected that the audience would be mostly other humans who'd scraped enough together for an evening without their owners. Maybe there'd be an old, weirdo alien here and there. But it wasn't like that. Every night when I went out, the club was full of nearly every species except humans.

And they didn't only come for the novelty of it, either. I had regular customers, people who watched me and only me. Even some who could afford to pay for a higher-class species.

I took a few swings on the pole and surveyed the audience. It was dark and a little bit smoky, but I made out a few regulars, as well as some new members. All of them seemed more transfixed than usual. I hadn't even taken anything off yet, and it already seemed like everybody in the room held their breath.

It could be a good night for tips if this keeps up, I thought before working one of my stockings off.

So why did they watch me like that? I mean, sure, most of them had limbs and heads and basic equipment like humans did. Some of us could even spend a pleasurable night together without much creativity.

But I was a human at the end of the day, and they weren't. That should have been a problem, but the way they watched me, I got the feeling they thought my being a human was a bonus.

Of course, some of them were just scumbags. They thought because the dancers at the Modzrabe were human, they could take liberties. What would a human do if a drunk Ewani said something creepy or touched us when they weren't supposed to?

It was about that moment that one of the front-row customers reminded me what they could be like.

"Hey there, gorgeous," a Maeux slurred.

His blue, scaly hand grabbed the other stocking, and the foot it was still on as I slipped my left one off. His grip totally threw off my balance right as I spun. The stocking slipped off, and I turned clumsily, barely keeping from falling flat on my face.

So much for good tips.

"Watch it, asshole!"

He grabbed me again, and I lost it, flying at him with the hardest slap I could muster.

He stumbled back into a group of Voleks who immediately took offence.

The music stopped as yells filled the club, and everyone leaped to their feet, running around and bumping into each other. I heard at least one glass shatter, and that was besides the three that were on top of the table the blue creep sat at.

My boss was going to kill me.

Better be sure it's worth it, then , I thought, punching the closest part of the pervert's body.

Suddenly, two strong arms gripped mine and pulled me back. It was security. I felt a little proud knowing that they protected him from me rather than me from him.

The Maeux stumbled to his feet and wiped his large, toothy mouth with a small hand. I noticed places where his skin turned a darker, bruised violet. I wondered what story he would come up with to explain where he got the marks whenever he got home.

"You… you animal!" he cried. "All I did was touch your stocking!"

My boss, the largest Nazok I'd ever seen, stepped in between the two of us. "I'm very sorry for your bad experience, sir," Kogam almost purred. "If you'd like a complimentary drink on the house before you go–"

"A complimentary drink?" the man shrieked. "I want to see you punish that rabid creature you call a dancer!"

Kogam looked at me, and I could see he didn't exactly disagree with the customer's portrait of me. It wasn't exactly the first time I'd gotten into trouble under his watch. To be fair, when I wasn't assaulting customers, I also made him quite a bit of money.

"Don't worry," he said, turning back to the customer. "I'll deal with her. But, sir, it is against the rules to grab the dancers while they're on stage."

"Against the rules?" the blue man spat back. "Did you see what she did to me? Why, if your bumbling security oafs hadn't finally arrived when they did, she might have ripped me to shreds!"

Unfortunately, I didn't think my nails were strong enough to really make that true. Also, Tilx and Novar, who worked security at the club, were both great. No one would get torn to shreds on their watch. Usually, I appreciated them, but at that moment, I wished whichever one of them was holding my left arm would stop twisting it so much.

"Like I said, we'll deal with her," Kogam said, obviously intending to worry me. It worked. "But we also are going to have to ask you to leave."

"Well, see if you ever get my business again!" the customer said. He walked off, limping slightly from the fall. I don't know why he did, but he continued speaking while exiting the club. "Imagine kicking someone out for getting attacked by one of your own dancers! It's an outrage! Why, when others hear about this–"

He kept on going in more or less the same tone the whole way out the door.

That was when Kogam turned his attention to me. "My office. Now."

Kogam stalked off, and Tilx and Novar finally let me go. I sighed and walked after Kogam, running over in my head everything awful that he might do or say. Meanwhile, the conductor started up a new song, and the next dancer poked her leg out onto the stage to dance for the remaining audience.

Kogam's office was a small thing. It was located behind the stage, with most of the space taken up by some chairs, a desk, and a personal computer that had about every modification possible to ensure that no one who wasn't Kogam would know what was inside it.

Kogam paced back and forth behind the desk. I sat down, feeling extremely nervous about the consequences I was about to face.

"Okay," I said after a nearly ten-second silence. "I understand there might have been better ways to deal with that."

"You assaulted a customer!" Kogam snapped. "Do you think that's good for business? Come to Modzrabe! Get a wallop from a crazed human?"

"I'm sorry," I said automatically, not making eye contact.

"Of course you're sorry," he said. "You're always sorry every time you do something. But you keep doing things like that! Why?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough! I want an answer!"

But before he got one, the door crept open. It was Tilx.

"Hey, boss. Sophia's in there with you, right?"

Kogam sighed. "What is it now?"

"Someone's requested her for a private dance," Tilx said nervously.

"Well, too bad," said Kogam. "She's in trouble." He scoffed. "I don't even know if she's housebroken right now."

"Uh, right." Tilx cleared his throat. "Only, the floor manager said to mention to you that he's one of them ." He leaned forward to whisper in Kogam's ear, a single word I couldn't hear.

Kogam's whole face changed. He immediately became pale and twitchy. "Well, why didn't you tell me that at the start? Sophia, let's go. And whatever you do, absolutely, positively, do not blow this one for me."

"Um, okay." I stood up. "The private champagne room, right?"

"Obviously," scoffed Kogam. "Where else would we put such a valued customer?" He leaned close and whispered into my ear. "Look, I don't care what he says. I don't care how he acts. Do whatever it takes to make this customer happy. If you do, everything's forgiven, all right?"

"All right," I answered, still unsure what was happening. I heard rumors that Kogam had some fingers in organized crime around the station, but I didn't think it went that deep. What kind of person was I about to meet up with?

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," Kogam repeated, shooing me out the door. "We don't want him waiting too long and starting off in a bad mood."

That sounded like a warning for my safety as much as for the bar's profit. Was I about to deal with some kind of murderous psycho who was just as likely to shoot a girl as he was to ask her for a lap dance?

I made my way quickly down the hall to the door of the champagne room. There, I paused to finger-comb my hair and straighten what little there was of my clothes. I was pissed I only had one stocking on.

Maybe the customer would think it was edgy. I hoped so. I took a deep breath and laid my hand on the door panel. I was as ready as I ever would be.

The door slid open, and I stepped inside, doing my best slow, sultry walk. Even if the being wasn't some maniac, I decided I might as well pull out the stops. I didn't feel bad about the blue alien, but anything would be worth it to get back in my boss's good graces.

Well, hell.

One of them.

Tilx could have been a little clearer.

This wasn't just any member of one of the criminal syndicates that ran Thodos III.

This was one of the Vinduthi.

Tall and broad, green marking lighting up the left side of his face and neck, almost shimmering against his dark gray skin.

His lips curled up into a seductive smile, and I couldn't quite tell if the shiver running up my back was because I was terrified or aroused.

Or maybe it was both.