5. Agatha

Egara woke me that morning and he could barely contain himself.

Within ten minutes, we had buried the packaging from the food we ate the previous night.

Egara unlocked another two petals of hidden stash buried inside the Desert Flower statue and we hit the road.

Egara had a new lease of life and it spilled over into me.

He found tracks that might lead to the shuttlecraft his crew had left for him.

"The tracks are fresh," he said, "which means someone must have taken the shuttlecraft recently. At least, more recently than the last big storm that passed through."

"Five days ago," I said confidently.

I remembered the storm well.

It came right before I met Egara, when I'd been claimed by a species known as the Hiigarans.

They were rough and brutal creatures, notorious among the Prizes for treating their mates as violently as they did their opponents in the pit.

Where Egara was known for being kind and giving, the Hiigarans' focused was on take, take, take.

It was one of the worst nights of my life and took some time for me to recover—both physically and psychologically.

That was how I recalled the storm so clearly and wished I couldn't.

"Tracks for what?" I said.

"Merchants."

"There are merchants in this place?" I said, surprised. "It's a desert."

"It's not as dead as the rumors might lead you to believe. On my homeworld, even the deserts are rich with life if you know where to look. Beneath these rising and falling sand dunes are huge schools of fish that swim as easily as those in the ocean. Each morning when the cool mists pass overhead, they come up to drink the condensation. It's not much but enough for them to survive another day."

"Do you think the rumors about being unable to survive out here were created by the supervisors?" I said.

"There's no question. Control how the prisoners think and you control how they act. Fewer escape attempts, fewer riots. If they don't believe they can survive out here, why try?"

But the desert wasn't without its dangers.

The air was difficult for me to breathe and could very well be toxic to others.

But wasn't that true of every atmosphere of every moon and planet in the galaxy?

It was perfectly suited to one species or another and deadly for others.

I smiled over at Egara.

Our lovemaking wasn't as vigorous as our first night together. It was warmer, closer.

I found in him a need to release pent up emotions that reflected my own desire.

He lay back and let me do what I wanted—what I needed to do—and in the process, I gained the ability to breathe easier on this world.

I was wrong about him not being handsome.

He was gorgeous.

His features weren't "traditional" but how could they be when he sported those incredible horns on top of his head?

And last night, during our second round, he did something I'd never experienced before…

He took me in his mouth and licked me, rubbing my clit with his thumb and strumming me like a well-worn guitar.

As my hips began to buck and loosen up, he lifted my legs and didn't rest them on his shoulders as I'd expected but on his horns!

His horns!

My knees fit perfectly in their natural curve as if they had been designed for that very purpose.

God bless you, evolution!

He slurped at me and I felt my juices flow far sooner than usual.

Using his horns like that turned me on more than I could explain. Or understand.

It freed up both his hands and allowed him to probe at me to his heart's content.

It was sheer bliss.

We peeled around another sand dune when I heard a low thrumming noise.

I looked back at Egara, who had stopped several yards back, his tuft of ears fluttering, peering first in one direction and then another.

He'd heard it long before I had and he focused on it.

"Is it them?" I said.

Egara pressed a finger to his lips, listening closer.

Then his eyes widened.

He grabbed me and shoved me onto my back at the foot of a sand dune.

Then he fell on top of me.

"What are you doing?" I said.

He was still wearing his clothes. He wasn't going to use his chameleon ability to hide from the drones effectively like this.

"Take a deep breath," he said.

He swept large handfuls of sand over us, burying us beneath the surface.

I took a deep breath as he pressed his lips against mine.

It was completely dark in there and the heat hit me immediately.

My hands were clutched over my eyes, which was a good thing because I couldn't have stood it otherwise.

I didn't move a muscle and focused on holding my breath.

How long could I last under here?

Egara's lips clamped over mine, sealing them tight and leaving no space for where the air could escape.

We lay in total darkness and I wondered how long it would take for the drone to pass overhead.

Not long, I thought.

I hoped.

But they might be performing a sweep of the area and who knew what kind of technology they possessed.

The heat grew intense and I could barely stand it.

Our bodies were pressed together just as tightly as our lovemaking last night but lacked the same sensation.

I couldn't hear the drone overhead.

I could only hear my heart thud in my chest.

I would have to follow Egara's lead when it came to coming out of our hiding place.

I felt relieved I wasn't alone.

Then my oxygen reserves began to fade.

I was going to need to take another breath.

And soon.

A few more seconds passed.

I gulped and my body shuddered.

Maybe Egara's species could survive beneath the sand like this but humans definitely couldn't.

My body ached to take a fresh mouthful of oxygen and bucked when I tried to prevent myself from doing so.

Egara pressed his lips more firmly over mine, his hands wrapped around my head to keep me in place.

Was he trying to suffocate me?

Was he trying to kill me?

I struggled harder and found he'd already wrapped his legs around me.

He must have known I would react this way.

I tensed my muscles, unable to free myself from his incredible grip.

I couldn't wait any longer.

I had to breathe.

I had to breach the surface.

But he held me pinned in place.

There was no escape.

Finally, unable to wait any longer, I sucked in a breath.

I was shocked I didn't inhale a mouthful of sand.

Instead, my lungs filled with delicious, fresh oxygen.

I could breathe.

Egara opened his lungs up to me.

His breath was warm and moist and I could taste him on my tongue.

I eased into him, careful not to take too much oxygen from him.

I felt his breath press against the back of my throat too and realized we were sharing each other's breath, each other's oxygen, cycling it between us.

I remember reading that our bodies don't absorb all the oxygen when we draw in a single breath.

Most of it gets expelled, which is how professional divers can reabsorb air bubbles they breathe out.

But the oxygen we shared would run out eventually.

It would grow toxic as it was recycled, accumulating more carbon dioxide with each exhalation.

My throat felt like it was closing up, tightening as I struggled to drag in each breath.

But I didn't panic.

I was used to struggling to breathe on this alien moon.

After a while, we settled into an easy rhythm with me breathing in, him out, and vice versa.

It must be what it felt like to be twins enclosed within the same womb.

I entered a deep hypnotic state until finally Egara began to move.

He pressed against the heavy weight of the sand above us.

I could barely shift it and was glad he was there to help me. I couldn't have escaped earlier even if I wanted to.

We burst through the sand and our lips parted.

I gulped in a huge lungful of sweet fresh oxygen.

Egara did the same only he didn't need to struggle the way I did.

He panted, a little out of breath, but otherwise fine.

He peered up and down the valley roads and at the sky, looking for something I couldn't see.

"Are they gone?" I said. "Did they go?"

"Yes," he said. "We got lucky. We won't get lucky again. Come on. We have to find those who took the shuttlecraft and get it back. Then we can get out of here."

He took me by the hand and led me away.

We traveled in bursts,moving at a fast walk.

Every step I took ground the sand deeper in my crevices.

Boy did I hate being covered in sand!

A thick streak of it wound up the back of my leg and rubbed against my pants.

I could already feel the chafing and wondered if the shuttlecraft had any creams on board.

Shuttlecraft.

Crazy to think how easy it was to believe there were ships that could travel the depths of space so easily, ships that few had traveled in on Earth.

I kept my eyes focused on the swell of the sand dunes, the sharp inclines that had seemed so protective before could now house guards and drones by the hundreds and be on us before we could react.

Egara's hand held mine firmly, his eyes darting left and right, focused on the blind corners as we took them each in turn.

The sun beat down hard and harsh, and as the day slipped by, we didn't stop, not even to eat.

To avoid indigestion, I nibbled at the snacks the same way Egara did.

It was high noon, or as close to it as I could assume without a clock to check, when my boot caught on a protrusion of sand.

I fell and landed hard on my hands and knees.

My breath racked my lungs and I could barely breathe.

Egara bent down to help me up but I could hardly move.

I was exhausted.

Each breath sawed in and out of my throat, coming out horse and horrid.

They were not the painstaking breaths I fought for due to the atmosphere but from pure exertion.

My mind might be focused on the task at hand, able to keep going and push on, but my body had just about enough.

"We have to keep moving," Egara said.

"I… can't…" I said between gasps.

"Then I'll carry you."

I shook my head but he already bent down to sweep me off my feet.

His powerful arms clutched me close.

He staggered forward, more due to the uneven surface than struggling beneath my weight.

"I thought you… wouldn't let me… slow you down?" I said.

"What can I say? I've grown attached to you."

After about twenty minutes, I had recovered.

"I can walk now," I said.

He didn't say a word and continued to power through the valley that cut through the huge sand dunes.

I wriggled in his arms to get free.

"Really. Put me down. I can walk."

He glanced at me,

"Are you sure?"

I gave him a look and wiped the sand from his cheeks and nose.

He sat me down and I dusted off my clothes.

He rubbed a hand over his face and hair, dislodging a bucket load as it spilled from his shoulders.

"Do you think they're close?" I said.

"The drones could be anywhere. If it were me, I would send those drones out everywhere I could. They'll cross each other's paths, looking for any sign of us. All it takes is for one of them to discover our footsteps and they'll find us for sure."

Our footsteps in the sand.

Why hadn't I thought of that?

I peered back at the valley floor, at the single pair of steepled humps kicked up by Egara's boots.

Any drone could make out those.

It would be nigh-on impossible for us to cover them up behind ourselves.

"Do you think we're close?" I said.

He didn't look at me and focused on the next rise.

"Could be," he said, noncommittally.

In truth, there was no way he could know for sure either way.

He knew no more than I did.

"Come on," I said. "If we're going to find this shuttlecraft of yours, we're going to have to get a move on."

We marched onward and rounded the next corner.

I checked the sky, looking for a flicker of light that might bounce off a drone's hard outer shell.

Egara had much better hearing than me.

He would likely hear a drone's loud buzzing, like giant hornets, before he would see them.

We had to take each corner at a time, hoping it would be the last, each counting down to the one that would finally reveal the merchants who'd stolen his shuttlecraft.

"Who would live in such a place as this?" I wondered out loud.

"This moon was colonized long ago," Egara said, trudging through the sand that never failed to catch the front of his boots. "That species had to sell it to pay off debts. The debtors came and evicted most of the locals. They were allowed to stay so long as they didn't hinder the building of the prisons."

"What happened to those that did?"

"Well, there's plenty of room at the local ‘hotels.'"

I gasped.

It somehow seemed perverse to imprison the very species that, through no fault of their own, had lost possession of this moon to an opportunistic alien race.

Especially since they had done nothing wrong to deserve it.

"The prisons get more funds the more prisoners they have here," Egara said, mildly surprised at my shock. "The more prisoners they have, the more money they make."

It was an entire field of the prison's operating procedure I had never considered before.

Why would I? It wasn't like it affected me.

Except, it did.

I was a part of that system now.

If the prison was run like a business, then I would be considered nothing more than an expenditure.

A single line on a ledger somewhere, where a thin nosed accountant would squint at the numbers and question the tax liabilities of each item.

I wondered how I would be referenced.

Entertainment?

A tax write-off?

Would they get tax back for my depreciation?

It might be irrational but it made me angry.

I'd been abducted through no fault of my own and now I was part of someone's profit and loss accounts?

We turned to another corner, identical to so many others we'd turned before.

I expect to see nothing but rolling sand dunes as far as the eye could see.

Pretty soon, the suns would set and we would be left in semi-darkness from the grey moons that circled in the suns' wake.

Instead, I saw a figure.

I was shocked to see another person out here and immediately came to an abrupt halt.

Egara slowed but did not stop.

The figure stood with his hands held in front.

His robes were long and tickled the sand's surface.

I wondered how he could possibly survive wearing such black clothes in such a climate as this.

"Follow my lead and move slowly," Egara said out the corner of his mouth.

He released my hand and walked with his hands swinging on either side, putting the shivs tucked in his waistband within easy reach.

Sunlight winked off their wicked edges.

I might have mistaken the figure as a fellow escaped prisoner except he looked far too at ease to be anything of the sort.

He had a heart-shaped snubbed nose with two thick slits for nostrils and wore a curved cap on his head that hid any hair he might have underneath it.

I had seen similar species to him in the prison but there were enough differences for him to occupy his own subcategory.

There was something very pig-like about the creature, and with it came all the negative associations of the poorly-regarded farmyard animal.

Maybe it was his small squinting black eyes, virtually invisible beneath the goggles that clung tightly to his face.

I had an immediate revulsion to the creature, irrational and unfounded, perhaps, but it was still there.

I didn't trust him.

As I drew alongside Egara, I placed my hand on his in a signal for him to be careful.

Funny, I thought, me giving Egara advice on how to talk with alien creatures.

During his years as the captain of a pirate ship, he must have come in contact with many other species—far more than I had—and he likely had to deal with this piglike creature too.

Still, with the way the creature eyed both Egara and me, it set my teeth on edge and my stomach to grinding like an old cement mixer.

"Evening," Egara said pleasantly.

"Evening," Piggy said, barely even moving his thick lips.

"We came this way looking for a merchant ship," Egara said. "Is it far ahead?"

The figure ran his eyes over him and pursed those purple lips.

"That would depend on who's asking," he said.

"My name is Egara. I'm the captain of a pirate ship and I would like to open negotiations."

"You seem to be missing your ship, captain," Piggy said with a sneer.

"It's not missing," Egara said. "It's out there with my crew. But there's one thing it's missing and that's my shuttlecraft."

Piggy's eyes moved to one side and a smile curled his features.

"I'm not sure we have a shuttlecraft among our stock," he said. "I suggest you turn back and look elsewhere."

Piggy turned, making the leather of his uniform squeak.

Egara moved so fast, it was like a magic trick.

One second my hand rested on his, and the next, his hand was wrapped around Piggy's upper arm.

The figure turned back, just enough for him to find Egara out the corner of his eye.

His attention dropped to Egara's hand resting on his arm.

Egara didn't release his hold.

"My crew left me a shuttlecraft that I believe you now have in your possession," Egara said, his tone turning cold. "You would be wise to return it to me."

Piggy stared at Egara but not for long.

He turned his head to one side where a loud clacking noise arrested my attention.

I gasped as a fellow piglike creature dressed in identical long flowing robes of black rounded a shallow sand dune.

Another appeared on the other side, penning us in.

I might have shown I was surprised but Egara didn't.

Maybe he'd heard them there, or maybe he hadn't, either way, his body remained tense.

Those twin shivs tucked in his pants remained within easy reach.

The figures were armed with strange weapons shaped like crossbows.

I suspected they didn't fire bolts of cold metal but unloaded from the glowing glass orb of plasma underneath.

"We wondered why the guards and their drones were out in full force," Piggy said. "I suppose now we know. If we were to shoot you down, it wouldn't make much difference to us. The guards would be relieved we'd dealt with one of their escaped prisoners."

His eyes drifted over to me.

"And returned their… property to them," he said.

The armed guard closest to me shifted his target from Egara to me.

I'd seen Egara fight.

He could take out two, maybe all three of the figures before they could confidently defend themselves.

But with me present, I suspected fighting was the last thing on Egara's mind.

He released Piggy but didn't ease his tensed muscles.

He shared a look with me.

It was both humble and reproachful.

"Everything's going to be all right," he said.

There was a curl to his smile that dimpled his chin and gave me a little hope he wasn't only saying that to allay my fears.

"Bring them," Piggy said.

As he trudged through the sand, the two guards followed on our heels, the glowing orbs of plasma casting our shadows across the sand that stretched and clipped at Piggy's heels.

We were prisoners once again.

They ledus into a broad valley that'd been cleared on one side.

Random objects protruded from the sand and a dozen other piglike creatures stood in circles cradling metal cups in clipped trotters.

They turned and watched us with tiny black eyes, like raisins drying in the sun.

They wore goggles of varying size. Some were big and wide and round, others even smaller than Piggy's.

A couple raised their trotters and squinted, forming wrinkles on either side of their eyes like used tea bags.

The object that took up most of the space was a long cylindrical structure.

One side was raised and perched on a hydraulic arm. A ramp lay half submerged by sand that led inside.

Attached to the front of the building was what appeared to be a giant drill bit.

It was chipped and stained with dirt, and some of the teeth were missing from having chewed dirt and hard rocks.

A pair of rudimentary robots fussed over the dust, sweeping it up into tiny dustpans.

Lights blinked on the top of their heads, flashing red every time they sensed more dust and sand that needed clearing.

Piggy drew to a stop outside the cigar-shaped building.

"Watch them," he said, issuing an order to our guards, their weapons still trained on us.

The dozen other figures fingered the blaster pistols at their waists.

I peered closer at the weapons hanging from their belts.

One was an empty handle that didn't support a blade.

Could they be real-life lightsabers? I wondered.

Their rotund bearers sure didn't look much like the powerful Jedis from the movies.

Piggy marched toward the cigar-shaped building but didn't ascend the hatch into the main room.

Instead, he proceeded until he reached the door at the end.

He rapped on it with his small gloved fist.

A moment later, a slat like a 1920's speakeasy slid open and a pair of stained yellow eyes peered out.

The exchange they shared was short-lived.

The door squeaked open and Piggy marched inside.

The door shut behind him and we were left surrounded by enemies.

"What now?" I said, speaking at the corner of my mouth.

Even if these piggy creatures were hard of hearing, I doubted they couldn't hear me.

"Now, we wait," Egara said.

Well, thanks. That really helps.

"But what are we supposed to do?" I said, pressing him. "What if they turn us over to the prison guards?"

"They won't unless the reward for us is more than what they can get out of doing business with us."

"You think there's a bounty on us?"

"Not much of one. Not yet. The prison guards will think they can find us themselves. Why pay for something you can get for free?"

"Then what are we going to do?"

"I'm going to get my shuttlecraft back. Then, we're going to get out of here."

"We don't exactly have much to offer them."

That gorgeous smile of his curled his lips once more.

His grin made me think he was carrying an ace up his sleeve that he hadn't yet shown me.

Egara glanced over at the nearby building and surveyed the darkness inside.

I followed his gaze and noticed he took interest in a corner of sharp shadows that I couldn't make out.

Most of the items in there were small and of varying blocky shapes.

Some were tall and thin with hydraulic arms on the front like protruding teeth.

Others were flat and broad with sharp blades and arms that looked like they could swing both up and down.

It had the appearance of a machine used for digging or clearing away.

Egara kept his expression empty but I was used to reading it by now.

I could have sworn there was a flicker of excitement behind his eyes.

It might have been there for an instant or I might have only imagined it.

When I turned back to the building's interior, I looked again for what he had noticed.

I couldn't ascertain what it was.

Was his ship on board? I wondered. Was it right there in plain sight?

The door ahead squeaked open and Piggy stepped out.

He backed away, bowing, and kept his head low as the entire wall lifted up and away.

A handful of creatures of mixed race pulled a platform on wheels out from the building.

The creatures were small, thin, and wiry.

Slaves, unless I missed my guess.

There was a resigned and helpless look about them.

Chains linked the collars at their necks and spiked cuffs about their ankles.

On the platform sat the biggest creature I had ever seen.

He was another pig but gargantuan in all aspects.

His huge stomach never seemed to end as the platform turned to face us.

His head was of a regular size and looked tiny on his bulbous frame.

He didn't wear the black robes of the other pigs and instead sported white flowing robes cut from sheer fabric not dissimilar from that the Prizes wore back at Ikmal prison.

There were so many layers, they gave at least some protection against his rolls of fat underneath.

His arms were short and stumpy and hung uselessly at his sides.

The slaves pulled the platform across the desert floor—not an easy job when the sand kept slipping and giving way beneath their feet.

Luckily for them, most of the ground had been hardened by a thousand stamping feet.

"Behold, Draw the great!" Piggy said, waving his arms and bowing once more.

The slaves drew to a stop before us and quickly ran around to the front.

They bent down on their hands and knees and braced themselves as the giant pig used them as steps to descend to the ground below.

Draw looked me and Egara over.

He didn't look impressed.

"Greetings, fair travelers," he said. "Welcome to my humble merchant shop. We have everything your heart never even knew it desired."

Egara surprised me when he bowed low, his body adopting a poise and style he'd never shown before.

"We are honored to be in your presence," he said, making his voice light and lofty.

"I understand you are interested in discussing trade," Draw said.

"We are. Some time ago, you came across a shuttlecraft in the middle of the desert. It is a C-class craft and of little value. I wish to have it back."

Draw snorted and glanced at Piggy, who did not smile.

Egara smiled amiably.

"What we find, we keep, as per the law of the land," Draw said.

He smelled strongly of perfume that'd been doused over his sweaty body, measured in buckets, not droplets.

"That's true," Egara said, "except this shuttlecraft already had an owner. Me. It was left by my crew."

Draw's eyes slid over to me and a greasy smile slid across his fat lips.

"A crew of one?" he said. "I doubt we have much to fear."

"She's not a member of my crew."

"A pity. If crewmates looked more like her, I might consider joining a pirate ship myself."

He leered at me vulgarly and worked his eyes over my body, not that he could make out much through the thick clothes I wore.

"I'll tell you what," Draw said. "I will return your shuttlecraft to you, in exchange for your female companion. She must have pleasured many fighters in her time. She is not worth much but I am generous."

The tendons in Egara's jaw grew tight.

He might be playing a role but that didn't mean he couldn't get angry.

He turned his head to one side and ground his teeth so loudly even I could hear it.

He raised his grin to Draw.

"I'm afraid she's not for sale," Egara said.

"Then I think our business discussions are over," Draw said.

He turned to climb his living steps.

"We're not finished," Egara said aggressively.

I placed a hand on his forearm.

I didn't think it was wise to anger this guy.

He had a dozen crazy looking creatures at his command, any one of which could open fire and claim our lives.

"I'm afraid we are finished," Draw said. "You have nothing else to offer me and there is nothing else of mine you desire."

He pressed his foot onto the first slave's back and I heard a crack noise.

The slave's eyes boggled and sweat dripped from his brow but he dare not drop Draw.

Egara took a step forward.

The guards moved to block him, their weapons glowing with luminous light.

My grip tightened on Egara's arm but he took no notice of my warning squeeze.

"I am the captain of a pirate ship," Egara said.

"A ship which could be anywhere, assuming it exists," Draw said, falling into his throne. "I imagine the prison guards' bounty won't be much but it will be more than the cost I would incur to feed and clothe you. We'll send up a flare and inform the guards of your location."

He waved a flabby arm and the slaves grunted as they began to turn the platform around.

"You never checked the serial number of the shuttlecraft, did you?" Egara said.

Draw didn't turn around and gave no signal he even heard him speak.

"The negotiation is over," Piggy snarled.

He slipped the handle of his weapon from the scabbard at his waist and flicked the lock open.

"My ship's name is the Wanderer," Egara said.

Everything changed from that point.

Piggy's eyes boggled in their tiny sockets.

He hesitated, his grip losing strength on the handle he'd popped free.

The platform did not stop but Draw turned his head to one side as if the ship name interested him.

The dozen piggy creature nearby raised their trotters to their goggles, twisted them, and squinted hard at Egara to get a better look at him.

Even the guards armed with the crossbow plasma weapons exchanged a wary glance.

The one with his weapon trained on me immediately took aim at Egara instead.

"Stop," Draw said. "Take me back."

The slaves turned the platform back around to face us.

Draw leaned forward in his chair and braced his elbows on his knees.

"If what you say is true, then that would make you…"

"Captain Egara Oskeileb," Egara said.

Draw leaned back in his chair and pinched his lips between his fingers.

"But you still have no ship, no crew," he said.

"My ship and crew are where I told you. And they still belong to me."

"But you cannot call them."

"Give me access to your communication equipment and I will. I will be at your command and will carry out any mission you wish."

Draw thought carefully about the offer before throwing back his head and barking a laugh.

"Do you take me for a fool?" he said. "If the warden discovers I agreed to your terms and aided escaped prisoners he would destroy me."

"Then give me back my shuttlecraft and they will never know I was here."

I peered up at Egara with new eyes.

His name carried meaning with these people.

I wondered how much Egara had held back about himself.

I wondered why he hadn't told me who he was.

Draw threw up his flabby arms.

"I can't take the risk," he said. "No. This is not a good trade. You will understand, I'm sure, as an individual of your… caliber."

Egara seemed taken aback by Draw's decision.

I glanced at the handles of the shivs held restrained and safe beneath Egara's belt.

With the pigs crowding around and reaching with itchy trigger-happy fingertips for their weapons, it was only a matter of time before a fight broke out.

As fast as Egara was, even he couldn't hope to defeat them all.

I moved first.

"Wait," I said. "Wait, your Excellency."

I bowed as low as I could.

My legs quivered due to the effort from earlier in the day.

"I offer myself to you," I said, the words turning sour even as they formed in my mouth. "As a sweetener for the deal. Give us the shuttlecraft and I will spend the night with you."

"Agatha…" Egara said.

I blocked him out and took another step forward.

Piggy moved to stop me but a glance at his master, who pinched his fat lips between his flabby fingers and nodded.

Piggy stepped to one side and let me pass.

Egara growled and attempted to follow me.

I turned back on him and threw out an arm.

"Don't touch me," I said. "I am no longer your property. Tonight, I am his."

I put all my love and fear for his safety into my expression.

He alone knew me well enough to understand why I was doing this.

"Please," he said. "Don't."

I couldn't bear to hear those words from him.

I turned on my heel and approached the platform.

The slaves formed steps and I climbed up them.

I looked up at Draw, who wore a snarl of excitement.

A shiver of disgust crawled across mine.

I lowered my hand to his sweaty leg and gently massaged it.

I tried to ignore the varicose veins.

"One night," I said, "and I will give you everything you ever dreamed of."

Draw's eyes bored into mine and his lip curled into a grin of satisfaction.

Not least because of the effect my deal had on Egara.

"Very well," he said.

I wasn't sure if I was pleased or not with his decision but for better or worse, the deal had been made.

Draw pulledme into his lap and felt at my chest as his platform turned and carried us toward the cigar-shaped building.

I couldn't bring myself to look Egara in the eye but before we disappeared inside, I glanced back over my shoulder at him.

Piggy shoved him toward the external hatch.

Egara stood dumbly watching and refused to leave until I had disappeared from sight.

Maybe he was waiting for a miracle, something to stop this event from taking place.

I found myself wishing for the same thing.

Draw placed a hand on my thigh and I forced a smile on my face as he turned his head toward me.

As he leaned forward to kiss me, one of his huge fat slabs of man breast entered the space between us, preventing us from kissing.

Still, he leaned forward, shut his eyes, and opened his mouth with his tongue lolling out.

He expected me to climb over that mound of flesh to reach him.

I kept the curl of disgust off my face, though it turned my insides raw to do so.

I avoided his mouth and pecked him on the cheek, my lips coming away tasting of salty sweat.

As I pulled back, he latched a hand around my arm and yanked me closer.

He slammed his tongue in my mouth.

It was long and irritated my tonsils.

He pulled back and licked my cheek and brow.

Where I had been repulsed by the taste of his sweat, he reveled in the taste of mine.

He smacked his lips.

He glanced over his flabby shoulder back at Egara, who was now being forced into the main hangar.

"You can't hurt him," I said.

"He will only be hurt if he struggles. Or if you do not please me."

He leered at me, an open challenge.

I glared back at him and he seemed pleased at what he saw.

His slaves carried us up one flight of stairs and then another.

The stairs were ludicrously wide, built to cater to Draw's platform.

The throne leaned backward as the slaves took us up one flight after another.

I dreaded to think what would happen if the slaves were to drop the platform, for their legs to give out, unable to finish the job.

I suspected their lives would be on the line.

At the top of the stairs, Draw's apartment took up the majority of the space.

It was surprisingly modern in style, minimalist.

Open windows ran along either side and thick shutters stood perched over the frames, ready to abseil down and lock into place the moment it was required.

"How do you survive on this moon?" I said. "There's so little to eat, so little to live off."

"There is always plenty," Draw said. "It's just a matter of finding it. This machine is one of the greatest wonders in the solar system. We can drill as deep into the heart of the planet as we wish. And for all its ugliness, there's a great deal of wealth beneath the moon's surface."

I had heard a great deal about the warden who was in charge of the entire prison moon.

But I had never seen him, never come in contact with him.

I supposed that wasn't much of a surprise.

The apartment was tastefully decorated with long leather couches and a device that looked much like a television but projected holographic images playing in the broad open space before the sofas.

Right now, two aliens fought a deadly fight to the death, and unless I missed my guess, I would have said the aliens were none other than prisoners in Ikmal.

I wondered how many viewers the prison fight had.

If it was a popular show, the viewership could well run into the billions.

The slaves transferred Draw into a hovering armchair.

It made me wonder why he didn't use that instead of his slave-powered platform.

I glanced back toward the stairs.

I could easily escape if I wanted.

A pair of servants stood on either side of the entrance, heads bowed, eyes facing the floor.

These were beautiful female creatures, nothing like the small but muscular platform carriers.

I empathized with them.

I imagined their situation was much like mine had been in the prison.

Trapped in this world, likely abducted, and forced to work for their alien overlords.

Draw floated over to the front room and came to a stop between the two long couches.

He cheered on the fighters, enjoying the bloody battle.

"Wine!" he yelled.

He whipped out an arm and smacked me across the ass.

"Now," he said. "How do you intend on making my dreams come true?"

I gulped.

I really hadn't given it much thought.

But with Egara's life on the line, I had better think of something fast.

I pictured Egara sitting in that armchair instead of this fact blob of a man.

It was Egara looking back at me, not him.

And looking upon Egara was a pleasure.

I stood between the holographic fighters and switched the projector off and moved through the stations until I came to the music channels.

The music was alien and I couldn't understand how anyone could find pleasure in listening to it.

Finally, I came to a tune with a slow sensual beat and a deep bass.

I fixed Draw with a look and began to dance.

I ran my hands over my body, the swell of my breasts, and narrow waist.

I kept my eyes on him and as I performed, stripped one item at a time.

Draw's mouth fell open and drool seeped from the corner of his lips.

And there, protruding from the folds of his flowing robes, his cock.

I was relieved to see it wasn't big.

As I danced closer, I reached for it, my arm protesting every inch of the way.

Before I could touch it, Draw snapped a hand around my arm and pulled me to his face.

"Nice," he said. "But not my dream. Do you wish to know what my dreams are?"

No, I didn't, but I smiled sweetly and nodded.

He leaned forward and whispered in my ear, his grip on my arm so tight, I thought he might break it.

As his dreams spilled into my ears, I quickly realized that his dreams would soon become my nightmares.