5. Ree

5

Ree

I'm studiously avoiding looking at the feed and considering laying on my bed, which is really just a cryocoffin laying down instead of standing upright like it is for the rest of the harem, when the slimes make their appearance.

There's no predicting when they will pop into the tiny room to the left of my bed. I think they like the idea of throwing me off balance and so the time between their visits has never settled into a recognizable pattern. It wasn't worth the exposure to the comment feed to look at the time stamps to try to figure it out.

There really are a bunch of sick bastards out in the universe and access to a galaxy-wide internet hasn't made them any less prone to trolling.

An image of an alien troll—complete with far too many horns and a vicious sneer—bubbles up after that thought and I can't help a small shiver. Hopefully their actual buyers are more refined?

I let out a huff of breath. Unlikely.

This seems like one of the visits where they haven't really come to talk to me directly, just to get away from other parts of the ship.

There is a surprising amount of overlap between the types of conversations they tend to have when coming around to shoot the breeze and what I've overheard young human males talking about.

Except in this case, the sexual jokes are downright nasty and the casual discussion of violence fits everything I've come to assume about their culture. They have very little regard for the suffering of others and seem to actually derive a great deal of pleasure from it.

I have yet to hear any of them speak to each other with affection or respect.

It must be a horrible way to live.

It might be speciesist of me, but I can't tell one slime from another. They all look like blobs and it doesn't help that they continually change shape. I'm sure they have some obvious ways they tell each other apart, but for me it's a non-starter.

There are two of them this time. Ooze flings off of them as they walk across the floor toward me on their three limbs that remind me of tiny, sticky elephant legs.

Bile rises to the back of my throat at the sight of them, but I can feel my skin heating and moisture pooling between my legs soon after they open the hatch and enter the small observation room. Though hate burns through me like fire and ice, I don't let it show on my face.

They won't get that sort of satisfaction from me ever again.

"Shentrea cabal should have never been allowed to rise," one of them comments.

"We're on a live feed, arid dung," shoots back the other as they settle into the seat of the controls.

The one who spoke before thinking is quaking, their body wiggling in their apparent terror, membranes sliding across their eyes repeatedly.

"I . . . I d-don't think t-that! How could you say such a thing? Taken out of context—Someone might—"

He clears his throat in a long gurgle. "I was speaking about what is said by the uninformed masses. Of course! No one on this ship has anything but incredibly deep, undying respect for Shentrea."

I realize my eyebrows are raised as he fumbles along and I wipe my face clean of expression. Then I move to the middle of the cryochambers in case they plan to bring a woman out of stasis.

My heart's pounding with more than just fear.

I vacillate between hoping they will leave the women alone and longing for company.

"How about you just start the entertainment so our slick and fabulous Shentrea viewers can see just how unique this harem is?"

When the glass of Silver's chamber slides open I can't help a surge of happiness, then feel sick I could ever feel something positive when a woman is about to have whatever dreams she held close shattered beyond repair.

But my heart's a traitor and for better or worse it has latched on to her.

Unlike Olivia, she doesn't fall, and I look back to the slime at the controls. He's slumped back in his chair like a drooping pile of phlegm. The other one is still trembling and jiggling in fear, though his eyes have mostly returned to normal.

I stand in front of her with my arms poised to catch her just in case.

My mouth is dry and I'm moving my weight rapidly between each leg. Will she like me?

What a stupid thing to focus on right now.

She is going to hate every moment of this, with no understanding of just how much whatever happens right now will mean to me. I hate myself for it, but I can't keep shouldering all of this alone. I need some of them to take the burden.

I know it's selfish. It changes nothing.

Silver still hasn't fallen. The frightened slime looks over to the other and starts speaking in a petulant voice, drawing my attention.

"Just pull her out already so they can have their show. You made your star-baked point."

A gasp brings my gaze back to Silver.

Her light green eyes are wide open and I can tell by the way her muscles are tensed that she is trying to pull herself away from the chamber. It holds her fast and a moment later she is screaming. Next, I'm on the ground hacking, but she is still stuck in her upright position.

When the gas clears she is still coughing, her body wracked with it, but she's unable to move into a position better suited to helping her lungs expel the fumes.

I scramble back up, grabbing one of her hands. "Please don't scream. They hurt us when we scream."

She whimpers, tears running down her face, but she stays quiet. Her hand trembles violently and I grab the other one and squeeze them both gently.

"Shut up, parched hole. I like it when the whores scream."

Apparently he isn't scared anymore now that there's someone new to terrorize.

The one at the controls sits forward. "Now, now. I see we have questions rolling in about the state of the indigo one's channel. I assure you it is anything but dry. In fact, we can—"

He's interrupted by the hatch opening and another slime stepping in. They pull an odd-looking gun from behind them and shoot the slime closest to the door.

Silver lets out another screech and this time I join her.

He falls with a sickening splat, then shudders before falling still. Slimes must have minimal bone structure because his body slowly sinks until he is spread out across a surprisingly extensive area and only rises about six inches off the floor.

The one at the controls grunts. "Was he really worth a frangible?"

"Yes. Compliments of Shentrea."

I don't know who the hell Shentrea is, but they are clearly not to be messed with or even talked about. I shudder as it occurs to me that the monsters in front of me are likely a pale shadow of some broader, far more dangerous political structure.

It's too much to even consider and my vision swims.

Gray blood seeps out around the dead slime and Silver starts dry heaving next to me. I turn my back to them and try to get her to focus on me.

"Hello. I'm Indigo. If I share my real name, they will punish us. I've been calling you Silver. Sorry."

She's staring past me, her body trembling and still trapped against the red fabric of the cryochamber. From the sounds behind me, I can tell they are working on cleaning up the mess and that there are now multiple slimes in the observation room.

"Hey. Hi. Why don't you just look at me, huh? Yes, that's right. Where are you from?"

"C-Congo."

"Oh, that's lovely. I've never been. They gave us translators, which is why we can understand each other."

Her brow furrows. "I'm speaking English."

I'm making a terrible first impression at the absolute worst time. I thought they spoke French or something.

"Wow. I'm a complete ass, sorry."

"No, it's okay. W-Why can't I move?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure. All I know is the alien at the controls is making it happen. I'm so sorry this is happening to you, Silver. I wish I could change it."

My eyes fill with tears and she looks at me closer, likely just now having enough mental bandwidth to notice that they are freakish. Then her eyes dart to my hair, then down to my naked body before looking at her own.

I hate that I feel a prickle of shame that I'm like this now, but she doesn't comment about my body.

She gulps hard and her tremors become more violent. "Trafficking?"

I nod and she sobs, once again trying to heave herself away from the hold the chamber has on her. I scramble to think of something to help her feel better. There is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Anything I could say would be empty.

Or a lie.

Best to stick to facts, then. I open my mouth to tell her about the things I've learned but I'm interrupted by one of the slimes.

"Move back."

Silver tries to cling to my hands but I pull hard to break her grip so I can do what he says.

I won't put her through any more rounds of torture than necessary.

When her chamber closes and she screams, it's like a knife to my heart. I can't keep the tears from pouring down.

The loneliness is like a crushing weight and it's hard to breathe.

"Now, what was I saying? Right. We can most certainly prove the indigo one is sufficiently moist for whatever use you have in mind. I was always partial to some knife play to add some additional juices to the mix. Not to mention the delectable screams each time I push in, but you chose your own pleasure."

I take a long breath and roughly wipe the tears from my eyes. I won't survive this if I let myself fall apart.

And where would that leave Silver?

"Show our good viewers what they have to look forward to."

I turn back to him, afraid I know what he wants, but hoping there is a way around it.

I stare and hold my breath, willing him to see another comment on the feed that tells him to torture me some other way. The thought makes me glance over and I see comments with images that make me look away just as fast.

"I can always bring that one back out and have her do it."

I stride forward, turn around so my back is to the camera and get down on my knees. As I tilt forward onto my hands to ensure they have the best view possible, I think of gray blood creeping across the floor.

It's the first time I've smiled in a very long time.