She checked her scanner. She was still twenty-five klicks from the second pod, twenty-seven from the village. Kate shook her canteen. Just a few swallows left. There was no way she could walk all that way without water.
Kate studied the landscape, then held up the scanner to confirm her intuition. To her left the mountain ridge rose up five and a half kilometers away. The scanner told her there were water sources beyond the treeline. It would mean a detour that would add at least ten or twelve klicks to her trek. Yet she knew if she went straight on, she’d probably die before she reached her crew.
“That would do no good,” she told herself. Sighing, Kate turned and headed east, toward the ridge.
Allyson stood as tall as her 5-6 frame would allow and tried to stare down the man who had purchased her. That was hard when she was getting a crick in her neck from looking up at him. He reminded her of that hotshot Chinese basketball player she’d been reading about on Earth, Chi Ming. He was seven feet tall as well.
“I’m not from this planet!” She shouted, trying to force him to understand. “Nor am I one of your bimbos! You must let me go!”
Almost casually, he backhanded her, knocking her to the floor. Ally lay there, dizzy, frustrated and angry. He said what she believed was the Devonite equivalent of a curse and spoke some angry words to the three women.
They were in a hotel of some sort, Ally believed. It was a large two-story log house, with several rooms. The man seemed to have purchased her to be a maid or a clerk. It wasn’t clear what he was telling her. Ally could not fathom this language. And this man—Ming would do for a name, she thought—had no patience with women. He yelled at the three women who could understand him, so what chance did Ally have?
Ming strode away, muttering. The three native women gathered around Ally. One of them, a tall woman with a beak nose, cursed at her and kicked Ally in the side. A second one spoke a few harsh words to the first and pointed to the prostrate girl, then to the retreating back of their master. The third bent down and helped Ally up, talking soothing words to her. The first woman stalked off, trailed by the second.
The third woman had a round face, weathered with age. Her breasts hung down to her stomach. Ally tried to listen to the lilting language as she spoke, but could make no sense of it. “I don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head. “Please, help me. I want to know what you are saying.”
Sighing, the woman led Ally to a courtyard and handed her a broom. It looked like something out of the “Wizard of Oz”—spindly branches tied to a stick. The woman pushed Ally into the yard and indicated that she should sweep. Crying, she stepped out into the hot sun and began moving the broom back and forth.
“I’m a fucking commander of a starship,” she muttered. “Second in command to the captain! And here I am on this godforsaken planet, sweeping up dirt like a charwoman!”
Jorja was brought to the home of the father. Apparently, the young man lived there as well. It was an adobe hut with two rooms. A partially finished, smaller hut was right next door. The young man pushed her inside. The father and son began talking. Their voices seemed almost conspiratorial. They kept looking at her as if sizing her up.
The woman immediately went to the kitchen and started cooking. Once she stopped and came over with a drink of water for Jorja. The men paid her no attention. Jorja drank gratefully and thanked the woman as best she could.
The son—or Junior, as Jorja had begun to call him—came over and began talking to her, speaking slowly as if that would make her understand better. She just shook her head. “Look, asshole, I don’t understand you. And if I was untied, I’d kick your butt again.”
Her animosity came through. He stared at her for a moment, then turned back to his father, again speaking in that strange language.
What the hell were they plotting?
Chapter 21
Greta woke up the next morning feeling much better, she told the doctor. Beth was unable to attend to the commander because Spike had chained Beth up overnight on the bedding with him. He had fucked her again before they fell asleep—making love would be the wrong words for the animalistic coupling they enthusiastically performed. Her body had easily accommodated him this time. The feeling of his cock deep within her defied description. No sooner did he erupt within her and pull out then she wanted him again. She wanted to fall asleep with his hard cock grasped within her cunt. She had never felt that way with anyone before.
Beth was still embarrassed to be within earshot of her commander. And she was a little ashamed that she enjoyed it so much. For an older man, he sure did have stamina. And there was something about being chained up, naked, at the mercy of this love-making machine that secretly thrilled her.
I should probably have my head examined!
Now, in the gray light of dawn, Spike snored next to her. Greta had been left chained to the couch. To Beth, this meant that Spike had claimed her for his own. What he intended to do with Greta was a mystery. Beth was pleased to see that he had no interest in this slender, beautiful woman who made men drool back on Earth. They like Reubenesque women on this planet, yippee!
Spike woke up when he heard the women talking. He unlocked the chain and let Beth tend to Greta. She wetted the cloth and daubed the commander’s head around the bandage.
“Oh, don’t fuss over me any more, doc. I’m fine. My memory’s coming back too.”
“Good. I was worried about you. If we’re going to sneak away, you’ll have to be well enough to move under your own power. How’s your knee?”
“It’s better. I think I could walk a bit in a pinch.”
“We may have to wait until you can run.”
“We can’t wait too long. We have to get back to that pod before the villagers trash it. First, we have to find where they’ve taken Smith and Egerton.”
“I was hoping Spike here could help us,” Beth said.
“Really? How so?”
“That depends on how well we can communicate with him.”
“You think the Ute’s ready?”
“I hope so. I wish Spike talked more. It’s like pulling teeth to get him to say a few words.”
“Sounds like my ex-husband. Where is it?”
“He has it. I think he still suspects it’s some kind of trick. I know he’s never seen anything like it.”
“Can you ask him to check it?”
Beth nodded. “Let me get him something to eat first, put him in a good mood.”
She went to the kitchen and cut a slice of bread, then slathered it with some preserves from a covered bowl on the counter. Spike, who had gone outside to pee, came in and smiled to see Beth being so obedient. She waited until he wolfed down his bread before signaling to him about the U.T. He nodded and pulled it out of his pouch.
The light glowed yellow.
“Commander! It’s working! At least partially.”
“Great. Tell him, um, tell him we’re free women. No, that’ll just make him mad. Tell him he has to let us go.”
“Let’s start with something small, hmm?” Beth wanted to build a relationship, not anger the man. Besides, the U.T. wasn’t ready for any difficult words.
She mimed being allowed to hold the device. Spike reluctantly handed it over, ready to grab it back if she tried anything. Beth held it to her face and spoke into it. “My name is Beth Reyes. What is your name?”
The Ute repeated her words in the man’s language with the characteristic pauses that indicated the computer was trying to fill in the blanks. His eyes widened and he stepped back. He said something the Ute couldn’t translate. Beth was afraid it might be something like “Sorcery!”