Page 1 of Accounting for Taste (Shattered Stars #18)

R eem felt the cold air with a chemical tang. It smelled like every hospital she had ever walked through. Well, she thought it did. Her memory was a little fuzzy.

She was on her back, and it felt weird because she never slept on her back. She sat up, and a series of alarms sounded, necessitating an orange being rushing toward her to silence them. Reem remained completely still as she tried to figure out what kind of hallucinogen had been put into her coffee.

“Oh, dear. You are the first of your kind with the procedure to wake. Your kind do not take kindly to the implant.” The words weren’t English, but Reem understood, which confused her.

Reem asked, “Where am I?”

“Experimental station. So many of your people were close to death that it was decided we could try and bring you back with implants. You lost a chunk of your skull and the brain behind it, so we put an implant in to improve recall and cognition. Your mind is functioning well, and if you can eat, you will be on your way to the blind auction.”

“Blind?”

“Your skills are all that is being marketed. We noted that you have scar tissue where your gestation organ would have been. So you aren’t of use as a breeder, but you do have an astonishing intellect, so you will be an information processor on some world. There is always a market for it.”

Reem carefully reached up and found a metal band wrapping around her skull. “Oh my god. What happened?”

The orange woman in scrubs said, “What do you remember?”

“Storms. So many storms. There was always debris flying through the air.”

“Do you know why there were storms?”

Reem tried to think, and her head ached, but she found it. “Asteroid. The Earth died.”

The orange woman smiled. “Excellent. Yes. We are adjacent to the space station that attends natural disasters and retrains the survivors for the worlds that need extra personnel. The survivors are trained, given a minimum bond that they will have to earn out, and put up for auction. If the auction price is more than the minimum bid, the bond servant will still have to earn out the amount, but with one notable exception, the bond is five to ten years, and then you are free to pursue citizenship and live your life.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Yours is set for a three-year value.”

“Okay.”

“You are older. It would be unfair to confine you to a position when you have less time to seek out a world for retirement.”

“Oh. Thank you. It’s nice to know that my being past my prime carries on into space.”

The orange medic smiled, showing needle-sharp teeth. “Your active availability is put at twenty years, so the bidders will take that into consideration.”

Reem nodded slowly, still coming to grips with the smooth band that wrapped around her skull from behind, from temple to temple. “Do you know what happened?”

“Why don’t you check your med records and tell me?” The woman smiled again.

Reem blinked and thought about the medical records. Her mind began to play a vid of someone being pushed into the space, lying on its stomach with a large chunk of metal protruding from the back of her skull. “Oh, that would do it.”

The medic grinned. “You saw?”

“I saw. I stopped when you were about to pull the slab of metal out of my skull.”

“Excellent. Come with me, and we will test your eating.”

Reem looked down and saw that she was wearing a grey set of pyjamas in a crisp fabric that still felt soft. She was wearing slippers as well.

She turned and dangled her legs off the edge of the medical bed and then eased herself to the floor. “How long have I been out?”

“Six days. The first bond auction of your species was just held.”

“What about the blind auction for me?”

“It is ongoing. If someone needs your particular skills, they will file a bid.”

They walked past six med beds, each with an attendant and a flat human, all with some kind of implant. All of the people had a grey cast. That wasn’t good.

“Your people do not easily accept cranial implants. You are the first to have survived the process.”

“You are experimenting on corpses.”

She smiled brightly. “Yes. The recently ceased.”

“Right. Well, that makes a clean break for me, I suppose.”

“You retained cognition and speech, so you are a definite success. Oh, you mean your ceasing. Yes, that was fortunate for us. Last-minute headwounds are rare for pickups. You were not even cold before they got you up to us.”

Reem nodded. “Sure, that is what the video records show.”

“I am so happy you can link through the secured systems. It is a triumph of the software.”

“I am unsure as to the details of the software acquisition, but I am happy with it as well.” She was getting videos and downloads as they walked through the med bay and up to the eating space.

The medic assigned to her got a tray of food, which included some ration cubes. “Here. Try these. I will get you something to drink.”

Reem took the tray and found an empty table, sat down, and started sniffing the food before picking up the tiny fork and tasting.

Some of the foods tasted familiar, others were jarring. She memorized what she didn’t like and consumed what she could with one of the watery teas that were offered.

The medic checked a tablet. “Oh, your auction has begun. Three worlds are bidding for your skillset.”

“Are they all compatible environments?”

“Yes. One is offering set living quarters along with a meal plan and a work schedule with days off. The others are listing your bond, and that is all.”

“Do I get to choose?”

“No. The bond house will select the one that is the greatest benefit to you.”

“Do any of the worlds offer medical care?”

“All of them, but some are more expensive than others.”

“What is the work position of the planet where the employee package is listed?”

“Wenavik. The meal plan and living quarters are deducted from your wages.”

“Okay. The others?”

“You choose the accommodation level you like and pay accordingly.”

She nodded and linked to the tablet, going through the work requests. She could do any of them, but she was watching the details of the bid and the focus of the worlds.

The criteria were still that she had to be paid enough to get out of her bond in two and a half years, so as the number went up, her bond by the hour shot up. Eventually, it was Wenavik that won the auction.

Reem immediately downloaded everything about the world. She stroked her fingers along her bare skull and over the metal implant. Well, she was alive against all odds, so now she had to make the best of things.

Her bond was sold, and she had a place to live. That was about as good as she could get.

Six weeks of travel on a commercial delivery service, and Reem was at her new home. The other humans going to bonds had avoided her on the vessel, so Reem kept to her quarters and went through the files she could access easily.

Reem walked down the shuttle hall, went through the airlock, and walked into the customs hall of Wenavik. She walked to the customs offices and checked in.

The locals were grey with stripes that could change according to their mood.

“Comptroller Reem?”

“Yes.”

“You need to go to medical for a full workup, and then a vehicle will take you to your quarters in the city.”

“Of course.” She inclined her head.

“Comptroller?”

“Yes?”

“You are an actual cyborg?”

“Apparently. That is what they told me when I woke up.”

The male smiled. “I have never met one of your kind.”

“Neither have I. Which way to medical?”

He got up and called an officer, who respectfully led her through the halls and to the medical wing.

The doctor left his other patient when he saw her and escorted her to a private room where he asked calmly, “Comptroller, may I run scans?”

“As long as you keep them in the safety range identified in my file.”

The doctor nodded and asked, “Your clothing is inert?”

“It is.”

“May I ask you questions about the damage?”

“Yes. I have lost emotional responses and social memories, but I will help you complete my file.”

The doctor nodded and helped her into the scanner, set the scan to her specifications, and while she was fully recorded from a genetic, cellular, and mechanical level, the doctor asked her questions.

“Do you know what caused the injury?”

“The visual record indicated a sheet of metal had been propelled into my skull, bisecting my brain. The experimental arm of the station got me before I was cold and applied the implant, restarting me.”

“Your thought patterns?”

“Similar to what I recall from before, but my acquisition of new information is dramatically faster.”

“Can you locate information about your occupation here?”

Reem sought the information and said, “I will sit in my office and process the data to create new contracts on this world and others.”

The doctor nodded. “Correct. Now, you have ovaries but no gestation organ. What caused that?”

“I had cancer fifteen years ago. They cut it out. Nothing left behind.”

“You are not as youthful as some of the other bond servants acquired.”

“No. I am not. I would normally have been relegated to a bulk order, but my reproductive status and the wound in my brain... Special circumstances.”

“I see. Well, you are very healthy otherwise. I do need to explain an outlet that we have made available to new species.”

“An outlet?”

“A sexual relief.”

“Oh, I don’t need that.”

The doctor smiled. “We all do from time to time. It is called the Pleasure Centre, and it is for the release of tension only. Anyone can use it if they have a need, and it will allow for release without social interaction.”

“Bots?”

“In your case, a med bed.”

“Oh. That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Give it a try if you have a need. Your ovaries are still active, so the hormonal response might take maintenance.”

“That is a logical assessment. Is the scan complete?”

“Yes, Comptroller.”

She stepped out of the standing unit and said, “What have you determined?”

“You are an adult female in good physical condition, which is startling considering how frail some of the others are.”

“I don’t know how I maintained body condition, but they told me some of the memories might resurface. Or they might not. Now, how do I get to my living quarters?”

The doctor smiled. “The overlord’s tower has staff here to take you to your home. Your living space has a clothing generator, and you will be very comfortable there.”

“Thank you. I was worried.”

He nodded. “Welcome to Wenavik. I think you will be very good for our world.”

“Well, I have two and a half years of mandatory labour to prove it before I have to figure out if it is what I want to remain doing.”

“Two and a half years?”

“My people don’t live long, and my body will begin to show signs of degrading in a few years.

Time is a factor for me. I have to get in, save enough for retirement, and locate somewhere to live quietly while paying for maintenance on my implant.

It is complicated. Thank you, doctor. Which way to the tower staff? ”

The doctor smiled and walked her through the facility to where two men in military uniforms looked at her, at their tablet, and then nodded. Their stripes flashed nervous yellow.

“Hello, gentlemen. I believe you are waiting for me?”

One of them smiled in relief when she spoke Wenavik. “Yes, Comptroller. Please come with us, and we will take you to your living quarters.”

There was a soft scoff. Reem looked at the blond man standing next to a brunette lady. “Yes?”

“Why do you get special treatment, freak?”

Her guards tensed, but she said, “With hair that projects that he is perpetually nervous next to a woman whose colour radiates nausea, I would wonder who was a freak here.”

The guards snickered. “This way, Comptroller.” He was now striped with teal.

They walked with her, and she heard the rush of slippers on smooth flooring. She felt the air coming at her head and ducked, her guards whirled, and their lianas wrapped around him and held him down while his own minder had to take him over.

She looked at her guards. “Leave him with his minder, and please show me to my home.”

Her escorts flanked her, and off they went in a very nice vehicle.

“Why did they attack you, Comptroller?” The younger male was curious, his colouring bright green.

“Because they perceived me as having an unearned status. We went back a little. Instead of moving for the benefit of all, it turned into the survival of one. That will take a while to lose, but he should not have aimed at my head. That shows an awareness of a vulnerability and a willingness to exploit it. So I hope he will get what is coming to him.”

The other male smiled. “You are to have judgment over your people for the first six months, so this will be interesting.”

She snorted. “Oh, this will be weird.”

Her quarters were lovely and in the large tower in the centre of the city. The Hmrain who owned the world, the system, and the several systems nearby was rarely seen. He did not care for living beings, aside from needing them for food.

Wenvari lived in the tower at the top, and then it was politicians and high civil servants. She would not see him in the course of her daily activities. He liked to leave the colonies alone to run themselves.

Her clothing generator had suggestions for a business wardrobe, so she got it started.

By the time she had eaten and was ready to sleep for the night, everything was lined up, and she had set timers for her first shift in the offices below. It was time to start earning her keep.